Aging Bar
by Vain Ambitions
Summary: Sumire is sick, and Sakuno is working at a bar secretly to earn money for the hospital bills. Nobody knew that she's working there, until Ryoma came one day and found out.
1. Chapter 1

"Grandma, I'm off for work, then." Sakuno said, adjusting her uniform which says _Cake Café_. "Take care of yourself."

"You too, don't work yourself too hard." Sumire said weakly from her bed.

"I'm not tired at all." Sakuno smiled. "Get well soon, kay?"

She ran out of the room, heading towards the Aging Bar. Her grandmother had been sick for quite some time now, and had stopped working too. Dad's income could only barely support the whole family; there was no way they could pay grandmother's hospital bills.

_But Grandma is definitely going to be okay! We just need eighty thousand dollars for the last treatment that the doctor said and she will be healed!_ Sakuno thought as she bit her lips. Eighty thousand dollars…is quite a huge sum of money…But she had found a job that earns her about three hundred dollars a week, depending on how many customers she managed to serve. She had saved up to about five thousand dollars now, but…it's still not enough…

"Hey Sakuno? Going to your cake shop?" The nurse from the customer's service asked.

"Yeah." She answered.

The first job Sakuno found was the cake shop. After all, Sakuno had always been very good at baking. However, working at the cake shop did not earn her much money. She might need to work in the cake shop for five years to get enough money. Five years…grandmother cannot hold for five years!

That's why Sakuno quit the job and found her a new one. But she did not tell anyone about this. She did not say anything about her new job. She even tried her best to hide the fact that she got a new job by keeping her cake shop uniform and wearing it around. That's because if she said it…it would be very embarrassing…

"Ah Sakura, you arrived!" Manager Carrie smiled. "You're still wearing that cake uniform? Go on and get changing!"

Sakuno nodded, still panting slightly, as she rushed to the changing room. She took out her uniform, and wore her blue, tube top dress and her mask to hide her identity. She did some quick make-up and tied her hair into a ponytail.

"Quick, Sakura, room 536, Mr. Carabella and his friends ordered six. Go and entertain them."

Sakuno nodded as she walked towards the room.

Before opening the door, she took a deep breath, and put on the greatest smile she could managed.

She opened the door.

"Hey Mr. Carabella." She said in the voice she had inherited from all her other colleagues; a what they called, sexy voice. "Are you bored? Wanna play?" She walked towards the group of guys as one of them wrapped his right arm around her waist, his left groping her breasts.

That is her job, and that is why she could never, ever tell anyone about this.

XxXxX

"Your next customer is in room 583. He's a newbie, so make him happy." Fanny winked. "If he managed to stay more than 1 hour, and become a regular customer, Carrie is going to double the money for it."

"Double?" Sakuno's eyes lit up. Double the money for a customer…means…she gets to serve one less customer throughout her life in the bar! She must do well for this particular customer! Sigh…oh how she hates this job…but this is the only job that could earn her that much money. "I'll give it my best." She said, smiling as she tidied her hair and added on some more make-up.

She adjusted her mask, and walked towards the room, putting on the greatest smile she could ever manage.

She opened the door. "Hi, cutie…"

Her smile vanished.

His green hair, sticking out messily of his signature hat, with tiny sweat drops at its end like morning dew on the ends of the leaves. A bag of tennis racquets lay next to him, and a grape-flavoured ponta planted itself on the table. He blinked his cat-like eye as he glared at Sakuno disapprovingly.

Ryoma-kun! Why…why is he here? Why would he be at a bar? Part of the reason she had accepted this job was because she was sure that no one she knew would come here and recognise her. I mean, why would they? The Aging Bar is known for the female prostitutes…

She bit her lips. So why is Ryoma here? It couldn't be that… he had suddenly taken an interest… No, impossible, Ryoma is not that kind of guy. He is just so innocent; all he ever thinks about was tennis. Furthermore, if he wants a girl to hang out with, all he needs to do is to ask; any girl in the entire school would gladly agree. After all, he is the most popular guy in school. Maybe Ryoma is just here because someone invited him or something. But in that case…he would never be a regular customer, and she can forget about getting a double…

"Who are you?" Ryoma asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"I'm…I'm your…erm…I'm here to serve you. Aren't you a customer?" Sakuno stuttered. _Damn, why is it that whenever I'm with Ryoma I will stutter?_ She forced a smile, and tried to look as natural as possible. _Smile, Sakuno! Even if you can't get a double, but at least make him stay for thirty minutes, or Carrie won't count him in! _ "Are you alone, cutie?" She said, leaning close to Ryoma.

Ryoma moved away, disgusted. "My friend asks me to come. He might be your whatever customer, not me."

Sakuno almost sighed in relief, but stopped herself; she cannot give away her identity. So, Ryoma came here because of his friend. He really was invited. He did not come here by himself. _Whew, I knew it; Ryoma is not that kind of guy._

"So, where is your friend?"

"I don't know. He's late." Ryoma said, irritated. "I don't know what he's up to, bringing me here, of all places…" Ryoma was murmuring to himself. He peeked at the clock hanging above the door, and frowned in frustration.

"Why don't you call him?" Sakuno said, fearing Ryoma would just walk out on her.

"I didn't bring my phone…" Ryoma said.

"I can lend you mine." Sakuno said, then she regretted. Ryoma might recognise her phone. But since when do Ryoma notice anything about her, let alone know what her phone looks like. But nevertheless, it's better to be safe than sorry. No matter what, she must never let Ryoma know who she is. Never. Or she's done for.

"I mean…I…I…can let you use the phone in the bar…but you might need to pay…thirty cents or so." Sakuno quickly said. _Damn it I'm stuttering again! _Sakuno thought as she flushed. Why does she always have to stutter around Ryoma? She was perfectly fine with her words whenever she was with her other customers! She had better stop stuttering lest Ryoma find her familiar, and her life would be ruined...

Ryoma thought for a while. "Okay." She sighed as she quickly rushed out of the room to get the phone.

"Carrie, let me borrow this for a while, sorry!" She said as she grabbed the phone off the table and brought it over to Ryoma's room.

"Here you go."

Ryoma took the phone and dialed a number.

"Oi, Momo-sempai, where are you?"

"_Oh Ryoma, how are you liking that place?"_

"Hurry up and get here!"

"_Oh no, Ryoma, this is set up for you especially. You've been practising hard lately, and you've been ignoring all the girls that come to you! Yeah, so take this chance and relax, and hang out with that girl I helped you ordered. You just can't keep playing tennis, you just can't."_

"What the fuck? So you arranged this for me? Are you crazy? I'm getting out of here."

_"What? Oh come on, you just can't Ryoma, Sempai spent quite a lot of money on..."_

He slammed the phone down angrily before Momoshiro couldfinish his sentence and grabbed his tennis bag, preparing to leave. "Freak him, waste my goddamn time..." He whispered under his breathe, stomping towards the door.

Sakuno stared in shock. _Ryoma's leaving already? But…but…only ten minutes has passed! Carrie would definitely not count him in! I need the money! _Without thinking, Sakuno shouted after Ryoma desperately. "Ryoma-kun!" And she regretted.

She held her breathe in dread as Ryoma turned around and stared at her. "How do you know my name?" He asked.

Damn it, why did she had to go and shout Ryoma's name like that? It's just one customer, she could easily earn the money back. Why did she had to call out for him like that and risk everything that she had planned. _Oh man, I hope I didn't get him to be suspicious! _She needed him to stay longer, but she could not expose her identity like that too. Now what...Sakuno bit her lips as she thought harder. "Mou, how would I not know you, Ryoma-kun, you are really famous around here you know." She flirted. "The tennis prodigy." She smiled coyly, hoping that this would trick Ryoma successfully.

Ryoma rolled his eyes, and turned to leave.

Sakuno panicked. Why is Ryoma always in a rush? "Wait, wait, don't leave! Wanna buy some more ponta?" She suggested, peeking at the clock. _Just twenty more minutes, Ryoma, please just stay for another twenty more minutes! _"I'll also get you a towel if you want." She winked.

"What do you want?" Ryoma asked finally, irked.

Sakuno fidgeted a bit. Maybe she should just tell him, and hope that he would help. "Ryoma-kun, it's just that…we get paid by the number of customers we serve, but we won't get paid if our customers leave so fast. So…just stay for a while longer…please? You've only stayed for 10 minutes. Just another 20 minutes?" Sakuno implored.

Ryoma stared at her, with an are-you-joking-who-do-you-think-I-am-why-should-I-waste-my-time-on-you face. She sighed and crossed her fingers. Who was she trying to fool? Why would Ryoma stay just because she puts up this puppy face and explained herself? Ryoma won't agree. He would probably just walk out of here, coolly and passively, the way he always did. After all, Ryoma probably just wants to practise his tennis. Who is she to compare herself to the importance of tennis to him? She just had to serve another customer. She can't get money easily by just asking someone to stay longer, someone who would not do anything to her, someone who would not touch her everywhere, kiss her everywhere, and demand her to take off her clothes, or even taking them off themselves... Money do not come easily I guess.

"Alright." Ryoma said, sitting back on the sofa. "I'll stay. Get me two bottles of ponta though."

Wait, what?

Sakuno stared at Ryoma. W…what did he say? He's staying? Ryoma is staying? But...why would he? Didn't he just said that he was wasting his time here? Am...am I hallucinating...?

Ryoma frowned, as he repeated his order again. "Did you hear me? I said, get me two bottles of ponta." He rolled his eyes. "Make it quick, since I'm helping you."

"Y...yes sir." She said, happily, smiling her widest, truest smile ever. So Ryoma did agree to stay on, just to help her. He's so nice…I can't believe it… Sakuno could almost feel tears coming out. Ryoma is a kind-hearted person after all. The first time she met him, didn't he also helped her out in the train? Sakuno jumped cheerfully towards the door, remembering Ryoma's request.

"Fanny, I need two ponta." She called out.

Fanny laughed. "Well done, Sakuno." She said, as she passed her two bottles of ponta. "Here you go."

Sakuno took the ponta and put them on the table in front of Ryoma.

She raised her head, and saw Ryoma staring at her intensely. Ryoma hardly notices her, so this stare kind of scares her a little bit... "Yes, cutie?" She asked.

"What…did she call you just now?" Ryoma asked, eyes not leaving her one bit.

Sakuno's mouth opened slightly unconsciously. Oh, damn it...Sakuno could feel a sense of dread crawling into her stomach. Shit, Fanny is the only one that knew her real name, and she probably called her 'Sakuno' instead of her fake name 'Sakura'. Damn it, did Ryoma hear Fanny just now…oh man…no now, after she had made Ryoma stayed here without suspecting anything. Why did this have to happen after her plan worked out smoothly? This is bad...what should she do...?

"S...She called me Sakura, that's my name, why?" Sakuno said, trying to lie her way out. "Why, cutie, are you trying to know my name because you like me?" She winked.

Ryoma frowned, leaning closer. "Don't lie, I heard Sakuno." He said, staring at her adamantly.

"Sakuno? Who's that? Your girlfriend?" Sakuno lied, trying not to stammer or blink her eyes too much. "Oh come on, if you keep thinking about your girlfriend like that, I'll get jealous. Hearing her name even when I'm around. How about this, if you like that Sakuno so much, treat me like her then, since our names are about the same." Sakuno said, slightly forcing out her smile. She's getting nervous, and she had better not stutter and giver herself away!

"Take off your mask." Ryoma ordered. Seeing no movement, Ryoma reached his hands out to peel off the mask. As if by instinct, Sakuno slapped his hands away immediately.

"I…You're…you can't take off my mask…it's a rule…so that our identities would be protected…to prevent stalkers from stalking us. If you are going to peel it off, I'm going to ask security to throw you out." Sakuno said, stammering. _Shit, why am I stammering again?_

Ryoma stared at her for a while, shrugged and then went to drink his ponta.

He did not look at her anymore after that. After twenty minutes, he left the room hastily, not even looking back.

Sakuno blinked, unable to comprehend. _Does this means he's not suspecting anymore, or what? _Well, hopefully it's the former, Sakuno thought as she crossed her fingers, while preparing for the next customer, who is in room 610.

XxXxX

**end of chapter! reviews! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Ryoma walked towards the table which he assumes was the cashier or the information counter. Whatever, he didn't get how this bar works anyway, and he didn't want to get too familiar with it either.

The woman at the counter smiled at him. "Hi, enjoying your first time here?" She asked sweetly, winking. Ryoma rolled hi eyes. The annoying winks... Ryoma had encountered many girls that would do all those annoying little winks that they somehow mistaken it for an action that would get Ryoma to like them, which is obviously not true. In this bar, those annoying winks seemed to more than double the amount, and it's really irritating.

Ryoma did not bother answering to the woman's question. "Where's your manager?"

The woman stared at him for a while, before answering. "I am. Call me Carrie. May I help you with anything?" She gestured at the chair in front of her.

Ryoma looked at her before sitting down at the chair. "The girl that…erm…you know…erm…_served_ me just now…" He said, finding the words hard to come out of his mouth, feeling a faint blush creeping up on him as he forced the word out.

"Oh, Sakura. How do you like her service?" Carrie smiled. "She's pretty good, huh? Even though she's kind of new, but she's really pretty and she learns fast. You can request for her every time you come here, she haven't got a regular yet, so she's pretty free. Though trying out different girls each time can be fun too."

"Yeah, her." Ryoma said, digging into his pocket. So, she call herself Sakura, huh? Not a very clever way to cover her identity. It has too much connection with her real name... He took out his wallet, and gave Carrie a wad of cash.

Carrie stared at the money, slightly dumbfounded for a while. "This is…"

"This is for her." Ryoma said, as Carrie took the money and counted them, and gaping at the humongous amount.

"You know, if you want to give tips to her, you can give it to her directly." Carrie said. "Aren't you afraid that I will eat up the money and not give it to her?"

Ryoma glared at her, as she laughed. "Joking, sir, I will never do that. Alright, I'll make sure that this is passed to her, and I'll tell her it's from you."

"No!" Ryoma almost shouted, but quickly composed himself. "Erm…no, don't tell her. Don't tell her that it's from me. Just give it to her disguised as a...a pay rise or something. I'll…You give her salary every week, right?"

Carrie nodded. "The money they get is dependent on how many customers they served."

Hmm, no wonder Sakuno was so desperate in trying to get her to stay. "So…I'll come every week and give you the money, just make sure it reaches her as her salary."

Carrie laughed. "Alright, I'll do that for you. You're the first customer to use such a weird tactic to give our girls their tip. Though it would be good if you can be a regular customer too. If you do, then the money she received for tending to you will be doubled."

Ryoma hesitated. Doubled? That means Sakuno would earn more… He sighed. "Okay, what day does she normally come?"

"She's available every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night."

Ryoma thought for a while. Well, he's free every Friday after tennis practice. There's no harm coming here to enjoy the air condition after a tiring tennis practice. "All I need to do is to request for her through you, right?"

"Yup, but I suggest you decide on the day and time now, so that I'll book her for you now, then you won't waste your time waiting on the day itself." Carrie suggested.

Ryoma frowned. "Alright, I'll come every Friday, around 5pm." He sighed, as he picked up his tennis bag and turned.

"Hey, are you acquainted with Sakura?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah." Ryoma said without turning around, as he walked out of the bar.

Carrie smiled, Sakura had such good friends, she thought.

XxXxX

Hope that that woman really did give her the money, and did not use it for herself. Anyway, it's easy to tell whether she did give Sakuno the money; Sakuno always give away her thoughts and emotions so obviously. That's how he was able to recognise Sakuno that day. No matter how much she tried to hide it, it was just so obvious. The familiarity hit him like a rock when she first entered the room, with such beautiful tube top. Her expressions, even though hidden by that mask of hers, were just so…Sakuno-ish, if it were a proper adjective. The way she stammers and the way she would put her hands on top of her dress in a polite manner, everything about her just gave her away.

At first he brushed it off as something impossible (_"Impossible, Sakuno would never do this sort of job. She had said that she was working in a cake shop"_), but then they started talking, and he was getting more and more suspicious. Finally, when her friend called out her name, even though he only heard it vaguely, he was already convinced.

Sakuno must have quit her job in the cake shop without telling anyone. Maybe the cake shop does not earn as much money. Well, that was obvious. When she enrolled for the cake shop, Ryoma was skeptical that she could earn enough money for Ryuuzaki sensei's treatment. He half-knew that Sakuno changed her job. When Sakuno was working in the cake shop, her face had been distorted with worry, worry about her short of moeny. But after one month of working in the cake shop, her expression in her face became more relieved, which hinted to Ryoma that she had found a job with a higher salary. But never in his mind…would Sakuno…work in the Aging bar…

Well, now that he gave…what's her name…Carrie the money, Sakuno should get more money. And hopefully quit her job as soon as possible.

But…He stared at his wallet. He used up his money for that. And he still needed to come up with the money for next week. He sighed. The other day the tennis company had asked him to help coach those tiny brats tennis. He had refused. I mean, who wants to teach little lazy brats that won't pratise tennis and would not respect you just because you are a high school student? This time, he should contact the manager again. He needed the money. This is so annoying…why did he decide to help Sakuno? She won't even know that he was the one helping her, she being so dumb and blur. After all, after so long of hanging out together, she didn't even notice that he liked her. He's always doing extra stuff that won't get notice…

"Sakuno, you look happy today!" Horio pointed out loudly. Ryoma looked back. Sakuno was walking towards them, smiling brightly. Ryoma had to admit; sometimes Horio's loud annoying voice does have an advantage to it.

"Yup, I just got a pay rise!" She announced cheerfully.

"Really?" Tomoka said.

"Yeah!"

"Ooh, you must be improving in your baking skills! I want to try your cake sometimes!"

"And Ryuuzaki-sensei would be healed soon, right?"

Sakuno nodded, eyes bright with hope. "Yes! Grandma is going to be healed soon, with my amount of salary now!"

Ryoma stared at her. Maybe it was a good thing after all to help Sakuno. Getting to see her smile like that was quite rare, ever since Ryuuzaki-sensei was hospitalised.

He sighed. He really missed the cheerful, bouncy Sakuno. Anything to make her happy…

"Ryoma!"

Without turning around, Ryoma knew who it was already. Long-forgotten anger rised up in his chest as he turned around. "Momo-sempai, damn you!" He shouted.

"Whoa, Ryoma, don't get so agitated now…" Momoshiro said, calming Ryoma. "You can't just attack your friend like that…you just can't…"

"Well explain to me what yesterday was all about!" Ryoma demanded.

"Haha, I just thought that you might like a little relaxtion. I see you practising tennis all day." Momoshiro slapped Ryoma's back. "I was worrying about your future romantic prospect!"

"I don't need you to worry about it." Ryoma growled angrily.

"Oh? You don't?" Momoshiro said cheekily. "Does that mean you have already found a girlfriend? Ne, Ryoma? You can't just keep it to yourself, Ryoma, you just can't…" Seeing Ryoma ignoring him and drinking ponta, he added. "Or do you already have a girl of your interest?"

Ryoma choked on his favourite grape flavoured ponta, coughing violently.

"Ahahaha oh my gosh I found out what was bothering Ryoma. HE LIKES A GIRL!" Momoshiro announced throughout the entire tennis court.

"Ochibi likes a girl? Finally?" Eiji perked up.

"Interesting, good data." Inui also said.

"Not bad. Who is it?" Fuji asked.

"Ooh hoho she must be super pretty and slim and attractive to have gotten Ryoma's attention!" Oishi said.

"Oh yeah baby! She must be hot!" Kawamura shouted, holding onto a racket.

Ryoma gaped as he watched his seniors gossip about his 'romantic prospects'. _Wait…I didn't say anything…I just choked because I suddenly thought of Sakuno…ah damn… _He peeked at Sakuno and her friends. They were murmuring and giggling among themselves, obviously amused by the subject. Sakuno…was looking disappointed. Or maybe he was just imagining things; why would Sakuno care about who he likes? But if she did care… He pulled down his hat, hoping Sakuno did not get any wrong impressions of him.

"Ne, ne, Ochibi, who do you like?" Eiji poked.

_I like Sakuno. A lot._ He wanted to say that, but decided to ignore his senior instead.

"Get into position, and stop talking among yourselves!" The Captain Tezuka ordered, as everyone scattered into their position.

"Fifty laps, now!" He ordered, followed by a lot of groans.

XxXxX

"Grandma, I got a pay rise!" Sakuno announced happily as she peeled apple for Sumire.

"Oh? Really?" Sumire said, smiling.

"Yup! Now, I earn three thousand dollars a week! I can't believe it, you're getting out of the hospital soon!"

"Three thousand dollars a week?" Sumire exclaimed in disbelief too.

"Yup! I used to earn only four hundred dollars a week. I don't know why I have this sudden increase in salary." Sakuno said cheerfully. "But it's good to earn this much."

Sumire smiled. It's good to see her granddaughter so happy and cheerful. Though this sudden increase in salary made her quite suspicious; how could a person's salary increase that much? Sakuno was just a small baker that did not even go to work everyday, how could she earn that much?

The door opened. Ryoma stood at the doorway, holding a bunch of flowers and his tennis bag, sweating from head to toe.

He was quite shock when he saw Sakuno.

"I guess…I shouldn't interrupt…" He said, closing the door.

"No, it's okay, Ryoma, come on in." Sumire said. Even though it was quite faint, but she could notice a blush in Ryoma's face when he looked at Sakuno. The boy seems so cold, but he still has a heart, which would soften for a girl. He had been visiting her every week whenever he's free, perhaps trying to get the grandma's favour. She chuckled in her head. _"Hope you get well soon…I can't wait to see Sakuno's happy face."_ That was what he said almost everyday to her, blushing. Wonder if he's going to say it here, with the subject in presence.

Ryoma walked towards them, and gently put the bunch of flowers onto her bed.

"H…hi…Ryoma-kun. How nice of you to visit Grandma." Sakuno said, smiling a bit nervously.

"Get well soon…" Ryoma muttered.

Sumire raised an eyebrow. "And? Why don't you continue your sentence?" She teased, prompting him.

Ryoma ignored her.

"Why are you sweating that much?" Sumire asked.

Ryoma wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeves. "I was practising."

"A hardworking guy, aren't you? When I'm back on the courts I should expect a great improvement, right?" She said.

Ryoma smiled slightly. "I'm still mada mada."

"Really?" Sumire laughed slightly. Ryoma could be confident while playing a match, but when he's practising, he's quite harsh on himself. Well, it's good; he would improve a lot more this way. "I heard from Nanjirou that you had accepted the contract from the Monosports Company."

Ryoma nodded.

"You're trying to earn money too huh? Like Sakuno." Sumire stated. She smiled, amused, when the two of them glanced at each other and then quickly averted their gaze.

"You denied them at first because you said you had no use for the extra money. So now, what are you using the money for?"

Sumire could see Ryoma taking a real quick glance at Sakuno. "Something." He said vaguely, with a faint blush on his face.

Ahaha, him blushing like that…it must have to be something to do with Sakuno. Sumire smiled. Ryoma should really just admit his feelings and confess. But seeing him do stuff for Sakuno in the back while hiding his faint blush in his face was so cute.

"I'd…better get going now…" Ryoma said, as he grabbed his tennis bag and left the room.

When he closed the door, Sakuno let out a sigh.

"What is it?" Sumire asked.

"N…nothing." Sakuno answered, blushing a bit.

Sumire raised her eyebrows. The relationship between these two is really weird and cute.

"Here you go, Grandma." Sakuno said, feeding Sumire the apple she had peeled.

Sumire ate the apple, staring at Sakuno. Somehow…she had a feeling that Sakuno's sudden pay rise is due to Ryoma. She laughed slightly to herself. _"I can't wait to see Sakuno's happy face…" _It must have been Ryoma, doing his way to speed things up a bit. Now he had succeeded, Sakuno is happier than usual now.

"What's so funny, Grandma?" Sakuno asked.

"Nothing." She said simply. "You'll be really happy in the future, Sakuno."

"Huh?" Sakuno frowned, confused.

XxXxX

**End of chapter! Please review! **

**A mini explanation: The name 'Aging Bar' is taken from Monochrome Factor. I used to call it the 'Jazz Bar', but it sounds stupid, so I changed it. So if there are any remnants of 'Jazz Bar', please do tell me so I could change it, cuz I might have missed it while scanning through. :) Monosports company's name is also inspired by it. xD Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

Sakuno walked into the Aging Bar when Fanny jumped on her. "Sakuno! Congratulations, I heard that you've got a pay rise." Fanny said.

"Yup!" Sakuno answered happily.

"Must have been that new guy last time. I've heard that you have successfully made him a regular. Congratulations on getting your first regular." Fanny smiled.

"Thanks…" Wait… did she say…my first regular…? Sakuno blinked. "Who?"

"That newbie that you tended for a full half an hour, remember? Cherry was like saying that he even had a conversation with Carrie after he came out of the room, apparently requesting for you every week or something. Carrie must have been really happy that we've got one more regular coming in, and gave you a double." Fanny explained.

Sakuno gaped in shock, not knowing what to say. The person Fanny was talking about, it's Ryoma-kun, isn't it? Ryoma-kun was the only newbie that she tended to for a full half hour last week. But, Ryoma-kun, a regular? Impossible! All those 'regulars' that they always talk about were the perverted and disgusting type that only liked to take advantage of girls. How could Ryoma…become a regular…? It couldn't be…he's not that type of guy! He's not…the last time he came here was because of Momo-sempai…so why would he become a regular? No, it must have been another person…

"T…that regular…what is his name?" Sakuno asked.

"How could you forget the name of your first regular?" Fanny said disapprovingly. "He's that cute tennis guy. If I remember correctly, he's called…erm…Echima Ryomy or something…can't remember. He's coming later, I heard."

So…it's really Ryoma-kun…impossible, how could Ryoma-kun become a regular in this infamous bar? Had he changed since the first day they met, had he become a pervert, was it because of puberty? No…Ryoma-kun is definitely not that type of guy! He probably came here again because of the same reason as last time. Yes, that must have been it. Momo-sempai must have asked Ryoma to come here again.

"What's wrong?" Fanny asked, looking at Sakuno's troubled face.

"N…nothing…"

"Well then hurry up, there's a customer in room 512."

XxXxX

Ryoma wiped his sweat and covered his eyes. He never knew that coaching people tennis could be so equally tiring sometimes. Ryuuzaki-sensei made everything seem so easy. For the first time in his life in Seigaku, he finally found a whole new found admiration for his tennis coach; to be able to keep up with the coaching work until this age was not easy indeed. Is that why she was sick? Hopefully she gets well soon, then Sakuno need not do this job anymore.

Ryoma sighed. Sakuno, while doing this horrible, disgusting job, must have been taken advantage of a lot of times. While he was walking down the corridor to this room, he took a glance at other rooms. The scene that he saw made him want to punch those people in their perverted faces. He couldn't believe Sakuno actually had the courage to do this kind of job.

Oh well…it's another new found admiration for Ryuuzaki…

He heard the door open. "Get me ponta…" He croaked. "Get me five of them…no, eight of them."

"Ah…hai…" Sakuno's sweet voice sounded tentatively into his ears. "Here you go."

Ryoma opened his eyes, glanced at the masked brunette, and picked up the ponta and started drinking. He let his exhaustion be relieved while letting the sweet, isotonic grape juice slip down his throat. He drank all eight cans of ponta in one shot, crushing the last one after drinking. He sighed. _So much better…_ Ponta really did make everything better… The sofa here was really comfortable too; the air-conditioned air was also really refreshing… Maybe this bar's popularity did have reasons other than the girls here…

_Girls…_

"A…anou…Ryoma-kun, why are you here again? Did your friend bring you here?" Sakuno asked, smiling in a flirting way, trying to hide her real personality.

Sakuno… Her hair was tight up in a bun, a kind of hairstyle Sakuno was never seen in; she had always been in pig-tails. Loose hair fall from the bun, not very messily, but rather as if the loose hair had been meant to be there all along, as everything about her adds to her beauty. The hair traced her long neck artistically. She is still wearing a blue tube-top dress (It's some kind of uniform, is it?), the dress was extremely short and tight, carving out her wonderful curves perfectly, and showing off her white, smooth legs. It looked as though it would break apart soon, showing her pure, white bare skin...

Sakuno must have realised that Ryoma was staring at her. She blushed a bit, while pulling her dress down consciously. "Where is your friend, is he late again? Or did you come here especially for me 'cause you miss me, cutie?" She cooed.

Ryoma frowned. This isn't like Sakuno at all. She's acting like all the other annoying girls at school that tried to get his attention. One of the many reasons why Ryoma liked Sakuno was because Sakuno did not do all those annoying stuff. He looked away. "Sakuno, cut the act."

"Eh? Ryoma-kun, I told you my name is Sakura—"

"I know who you are, Ryuuzaki."

Sakuno stopped talking, and stared at Ryoma, mouth agape. "H…how…?"

Ryoma sighed. Must he really call Sakuno Ryuuzaki for her to react? Now thinking about it, all these years of knowing Sakuno, he had tried really hard to revert to calling her Sakuno, instead of Ryuuzaki. He had tried as subtle as he could to call Sakuno by her last name when in private, but Sakuno would always ignore him whenever he did that, and he needed to call out 'Ryuuzaki' for a response. It kind of hurt his heart whenever this happened. Hopefully it's not on purposely…hopefully she was just not used to having him call her that…

"I knew all along." Ryoma stated. "You can take off your mask now." Seeing Sakuno hesitate, he added. "I won't do anything to you, don't worry." He assured.

Sakuno peeled off her mask slowly, revealing a flushing red face. Ryoma stared at her face for a while, and noticed her tears.

"S…so you…knew all along…?" She said, trembling.

Ryoma opened his mouth, and closed it again, unsure of what to say. Why is she crying? Oh damn what did I do? "I…I won't tell anyone, I promise. Erm…your secret is safe with me…" Ryoma stammered, too filled with shock.

"W…why did you come…? Did you come to see me in this embarrassing state? Or did you come to…to…" Sakuno cried, her hands moving unconsciously up to wrap her bust in a protective manner.

"What? I…I didn't! I came to…I…I heard that you'll get a double if I become a regular…so that's why…I'm really not going to do anything, alright?" Ryoma explained himself frantically, as he moved his hands slowly to towards Sakuno to comfort her. Sakuno flinched a bit when he touched her, so he kept his hands away immediately. Ryoma felt as if his heart had just got stabbed by a knife. Is he that untrustworthy, for Sakuno to suspect him like that...? "And I don't find you embarrassing. You are…" He coughed, embarrassed at what he was going to say. "…really beautiful…"

"I know…they all say that…" Sakuno said.

Ryoma stared at Sakuno. "They…you…must have been…" He stumbled for the appropriate word to say, but couldn't find one.

"I got taken advantaged of all the time, yes." Sakuno finished his sentence for him.

Ryoma clenched his fists angrily. He really wanted Sakuno to earn as much money now, and then heal Ryuuzaki-sensei, so she could be happy again, but seeing her in this kind of job…he really wanted her to quit this job! Those guys…he saw them trying to strip this poor colleague of Sakuno's…Sakuno had to endure this three times a week…she is just fifteen years old!

"Y…you…" Ryoma started, but still struggled for words.

"You don't need to say anything. I know no one will want to marry me anymore!" Sakuno exclaimed, covering her eyes while crying.

"T…that's not true." Ryoma whispered. _I would. I would gladly take you as my wife. No matter what you do…I would still want to marry you…if I can…_

Sakuno calmed down as she smiled wryly. "Sorry…I must have been making it really difficult for you, complaining and crying…I'm sorry…" She wiped her tears. "I won't cry anymore…" She smiled, a bit happier now. "Thanks for becoming my regular. It's so great to earn a double payment without having to…do weird stuff…" She blushed a bit, tears forming again. "Thank you, Ryoma-kun…you're really…nice…"

Ryoma averted his head, not sure if he could control himself any longer if he continued watching Sakuno cry. "D…don't cry. Ryuuzaki-sensei…is my tennis coach too…this is my way of helping her." _And this is my way of showing you how much I love you…if you catch my drift…_ Ryoma thought sadly.

Maybe the all the hard and tiring work of coaching little brats would still pay off. After all, this would make Sakuno work here for a shorter duration…

XxXxX

"Wow, this is more than the amount you gave last week." Carrie whistled, counting the money.

"Give her anther pay rise." Ryoma stated simply.

"Hmm…if you're going to do this often, then I need to come up with lots of reason for me to give her a pay rise. Why don't you just give this to her as a tip?" Carrie asked cheekily.

Ryoma blushed, but quickly hid it by pulling down his cap. "I don't want her to know."

"Alright then, customer's the boss. I'll give her yet another pay rise." Carrie said, keeping the money. "How'd you get so much money anyway? Are you so rich?" Carrie asked, adding playfully. "Or is that the money you saved up just to woo her?"

"I got a job." Ryoma admitted.

"Wow, sure puts in a lot of effort helping her, huh?" Carrie smiled.

Ryoma shrugged, and left.

XxXxX

**This is a short chapter. :P sorry about that! Well, I think next chapter will be longer. I think…**

**But well, THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT REVIEWING!**

**Lol, no, I'm still nice. It's just…I have writer's block, so…**

**Well, reviews! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**New chapter up! I will be gone for two whole weeks, due to some immersion over at China, so I might not**, **will not be updating in the two weeks. Sorry! Anyway, read and enjoy!**

XxXxX

"50 laps around the field as warm ups, now!" The captain ordered.

Sakuno watched as everybody in the club groaned and started running. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and it was one of the rare afternoons in which she did not have supplementary lessons and work, so she was free to come and watch the tennis club. She sighed. She should take this opportunity and relax, after all of the tiresome work she had been doing…

Ryoma… Sakuno blushed slightly.

Ryoma is running along the tracks, faster than everyone else, as usual… Ryoma really is quite hardworking, as grandmother said… He seemed to be the one of the few that takes the training seriously, even without grandmother's presence. Sakuno smiled. When he likes something, he would give his everything to it, his every effort and time. That's what Sakuno likes the best about him… Sakuno blushed again.

"Hi Sakuno, no remedial today?" Tomoka sat next to her, asking.

"Yeah. Sensei is sick today." Sakuno said happily. Now she gets to see Ryoma-kun finally. Though last Friday she had just seen him in the bar… It had been so embarrassing…

Oops, she had better not blush too much, Tomoka had always been observant; she might see it and make a huge fuss about it…

"T…Tomo-chan?" Sakuno said, after seeing Tomoka's angry face. Tomoka hardly gets angry, so her livid expression kind of scares Sakuno. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"I went to Cake Café on Friday, since I know Friday afternoons is one of your working afternoons." Tomoka stated.

Sakuno almost felt her heart had stopped a beat for that moment. A sense of dread flooded her whole heart. Damn it, she had told her friends that her work place is all the way at Hokkaido, so that they would not bother to visit her and find out that she was not working there anymore. But if Tomoka really went there…oh no, her secret would be exposed…

"They said that they have never heard of a person called Sakuno working there, and said that I must have gone to the wrong place." Tomoka said calmly, but her voice was trembling with anger and hurt. "I went all the way to Hokkaido, Sakuno, I went all the way there to see you, but it turns out that you have been tricking me all along! You don't even work there at all!" Tears could be seen forming in Tomoka's eyes. "Why did you have to lie to me, Sakuno? I'm your best friend! You made me travel all the way to Hokkaido when you don't even work there! If you don't work there, what have you been doing all these times?"

Tomoka…went all the way to Hokkaido…? Why did she do that…? Now what is she going to do…she made her best friend go all the way to Hokkaido! Maybe she should just tell her the truth. After all, she _is_ my best friend… But Tomoka's weakness of all times was that she could not keep a secret, so if the fact that she's working at a bar, furthermore, the A_ging Bar_, her reputation would be ruined…she could not face anyone anymore, she could not face grandmother… What should I do?

Sakuno fidgeted with the grasses around her, as she tried to figure out her dilemma.

"Answer me Sakuno!" Tomoka demanded.

Sakuno averted her head. "Tomo-chan…please…don't get angry…" She stammered, not knowing exactly what to say. "I…I was working at the Cake Café…but…I…erm…"

"You what? Huh, Sakuno, what?" Tomoka shouted. The whole club was looking at them now, and Horio and gang were approaching, worried. This is bad…now telling the truth is definitely not an option, with so many people looking at them. Sometimes, Tomoka's overly loud voice had a really bad side-effect.

"Ryuuzaki was showing me around the shop."

The two turned around, only to face Ryoma, drinking his ponta.

"Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka blinked in the sudden intrusion.

"I went there too on Friday. The manager got Sakuno to show me around the place for a full four hours. There was quite a lot stuff to see. It was rather interesting. So because I went there, she slacked for the whole time and did not work. I guess that's why you didn't see her." Ryoma stated.

Tomoka calmed down, scratching her head. "Ryoma-sama you went all the way to Hokkaido too? B…but…the person was like…saying that nobody called Sakuno worked there…"

"Oh, I had a bit of trouble finding Ryuuzaki too. She changed her name to Carrie, that's why."

Tomoka stared at Ryoma, and then looked at Sakuno. Her face immediately cleared up to show a bright expression. "Oh, so that's how it is! Why didn't you tell me earlier, Sakuno? Geez, I wasted my time going there." She laughed.

"Erm…I…erm change my name everyday, to protect my privacy. So if you want to see me, tell me first…k'?" Sakuno said. With an early notice, Sakuno could contact the place and beg them to tell her friends that she's out delivering or something along the lines.

"Okay! Phew, I thought you lied to me about going to the cake shop to work. I was so scared." Tomoka laughed. "I'm so sorry I doubted you. I mean, you're my best friend, you won't lie to me, right?"

"Ha…haha…ha…yeah…" Sakuno laughed along forcefully, feeling quite bad inside. She had been lying to her all along, she had been lying to everyone all along…

She glanced at Ryoma, who was being teased by the seniors.

"_Wow Ochibi you actually went all the way to Hokkaido to see Sakuno?" "Oh my you really like her, don't you, Echizen?" "First time Echizen abandoned his tennis practice to do something else, ne?" "Hey, Echizen, you're not bad at wooing girls, eh, getting Sakuno-chan to accompany you for full four hours!" "Yeah, what luck you have!" "My hard work of sending you to that bar really pays off hahaha!""…Shut up…"_

Sakuno smiled, as she thanked Ryoma in her heart. If it had not been him…she would have…

Nah she doesn't want to think about it.

Maybe meeting Ryoma at the bar was really not such a bad thing after all.

XxXxX

Ryoma stared at the sky, sipping his ponta. Life had been so busy nowadays; school, work, tennis… he never knew adding just one more itinerary to his life schedule would make everything so packed up. He had no time to hang out with his friends anymore now with his new job…

He sighed. Well, he shouldn't be that ambiguous in the first place, giving Carrie so much money last week. Now he needed to work his butt off to earn the same amount… This is so freaking irritating…

The door creaked.

He turned around. It was Sakuno.

"Ryoma-kun, so you are really here…" Sakuno said.

Ryoma peered at her through his half-closed eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I…I'm here to say thanks…" Sakuno said. "Thank you, for just now…if you didn't come and save me…I…my secret will be exposed…"

Ryoma glanced at Sakuno. He never dared to look at Sakuno for too long…

"…s' okay." He mumbled, taking another sip from his drink.

Sakuno nodded.

The two stood there for quite a while, staring up at the sky.

"…don't you need to go eat lunch or something?" Ryoma asked.

"Yeah. I brought my lunch box up." Sakuno said, taking out her lunch box. She sat down. "I brought an extra one, too, for you."

Ryoma looked at the lunch box Sakuno prepared for him. Feeling his stomach churn, he shrugged and sat down too, accepting the lunch box. They sat down and ate together.

"…your cooking?"

"Y…yeah…"

"…it's very nice." It tasted like mom's cooking…

"T…thanks."

"…"

"…if you want I can help you make everyday."

"…"

"…as…as thanks for…today and…Friday…"

"…okay, I don't mind."

"Okay…okay…so meet you here…everyday?"

"…yeah. I'm always here."

"O…okay…"

XxXxX

**Reviews! :D (this chapter is a bit short I know…)**


	5. Chapter 5

Ryoma counted the money. Okay, three thousand, just right. He had worked his butt off this whole week just to get that same amount of money… He never knew working part time could be this hard. He had to give it to Sakuno, who had been working part timing ever since half a year ago. Furthermore, the kind of job she does…

He sighed. Never mind, he will get Sakuno out of that job as soon as possible. That's the reason why he had been working his butt off right now.

He kept the money into his pocket. He was about to open the door until he hesitated. Oh right, he was grounded…

"_You have been going out to work, and going out during Friday nights, __so much so that you have been neglecting your schoolwork. It's unforgivable that you only gotten a B in your English. English, Ryoma, how could you not get an A in your English? What have you been doing all these times? Why are you spending so much time trying to earn money?"_

"…"

"_Answer me Ryoma!"_

"…"

"_And tell me how did you deteriorate in your math, all the way to a 'D'? This is outrageous! And you sciences, isn't science your favourite subject? What's with the low 'C'? Huh? How do you explain yourself?"_

"…"

"_Don't think that your mum is an idiot, because I know exactly where you go every Friday. You were going to the Aging Bar, weren't you?"_

"…_How…?"_

"_You really think your mum's an idiot, don't you? That's why all your money that you earned was never saved, right? You spent it all in that bar, right? You spent so much time and effort just to go to that bar, and neglecting you studies! Like father like son, you are just like your father! I don't mind if you go to that bar once in a while, maybe you have grown up, I can't stop you. But if you are going to neglect your studies because of this, I won't allow it!"_

"…"

"_Echizen Ryoma, from now on, you are grounded, you hear me?"_

Damn it. Okay, so he could not go by the front door. He could still sneak out. He opened his window, and tucked his wallet safely inside his pocket. He climbed out carefully, and jumped down, landing on a roll to minimise the impact. Alright, he would just run there, and accompany Sakuno for thirty minutes, then do whatever business he had to do with Carrie, and quickly get back here. No one would realise that he was gone…

"And where do you think you are going, young man?"

Shit. Ryoma turned around slowly, only to meet his mother, standing in front of him, livid. Why is it that his mother always seems to know what's he's doing and what he's going to do? Do all mothers read minds or something? He cursed under his breath. This is bad…

"You think I don't know that you would sneak out? Ryoma, how long have I been your mum? I know everything about you as if it was back of my palm?" Rinko said through grinding teeth. "Get back to your room. Now." She ordered.

"M…mom…" Ryoma stuttered. This is bad. If he's caught like that, he could never dream of finding Sakuno now… But if he doesn't go to the Aging Bar now, how would he give the money to Carrie, and how would Sakuno get the money? If he did not go, Sakuno would also need to serve two more customers in order to get the same amount of money…No. He must go to the Aging Bar, no matter what. "I…I promise I'll be back by nine. I'll study very hard from today onwards, just let me go…"

"This is going too far, Ryoma. You messed up your studies, you spent all your time going to that Aging Bar, which is so infamous and notorious, and now you have disobeyed your mum! And you _still_ want me to let you go to that place? What have you become, Ryoma? Are you addicted or something? Why have you changed so much? Did your dad influence you so much?"

Ryoma frowned, frustrated. "You don't understand, mom…"

"I don't understand? Oh yes I understand you very much. You get back to your room while I give you some proper sex education."

"I can't."

Rinko blinked at his son's answer. "W…what?"

"I'm going. You can't stop me." Ryoma stated.

"You are going back to your room!" Rinko barked, grabbing Ryoma by his arm, and pulling him towards the house.

Ryoma stood in his position, unmoving. No matter how Rinko pulled, he still would not budge. After all these years of training did make him stronger than his mother.

"Y…you insolent…" Rinko raised her hand and slapped Ryoma. She grabbed Ryoma, whose face had turned painfully red, dragging him to his room.

Ryoma shook off Rinko, and pushed her away. Rinko fall back, face paled with shock, as Ryoma ran away.

"Echizen Ryoma! If you run away to that despicable place, then do not come back again!" Rinko shouted at the running Ryoma. Tears formed in her eyes. Her son, he used to be so innocent and obedient…how could he have turned into this…perverted, and rude… Is it puberty? She slumped to the ground, as she continued crying her eyes out.

This was the first time Ryoma disobeyed his mother.

XxXxX

The door opened. "Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno said happily when she saw the familiar face.

Ryoma smiled slightly. "Hi." He said simply.

"Here you go, ponta for you." Sakuno said, as she brought out the pontas she had been holding on to. She knew Ryoma would want ponta, so she just brought it along with her when Fanny told her 'your regular's here'.

"Thanks." Sakuno said sincerely as Ryoma drank his ponta.

Ryoma sighed. "Must you always say that every time I come?"

Sakuno looked down, slightly embarrassed. It had been one month already, ever since Ryoma became her regular. Ryoma had indeed helped a lot. A regular did help you earn a lot more money. "But I have to thank you. You have been helping me all these times…"

Ryoma smiled wryly. "I told you already, it's okay."

Sakuno nodded, though she sensed something wrong with Ryoma's smile today. "Ryoma-kun, is…something bothering you?"

Ryoma stared into space, as he mumbled. "Ryuuzaki…"

"Y…yeah…?"

"You know…you have been making my lunch all these while…"

"Yeah, it's only right for me to do something for you…since you have been doing so much for me…"

"…Could you…make my breakfast and dinner, too?"

Sakuno blinked. "I…I guess I could…why? You're not going to eat at home?"

Ryoma averted his head, as he pulled his cap down (a sign of guilt, Sakuno had learnt). "I ran away from home."

"What?" Sakuno shouted, and then covered her mouth as she realised she was too loud. "Y…you ran away…from home?" She added, softer this time.

Ryoma did not answer, but Sakuno knew that means 'yes'. "You did it for me, didn't you?"

Ryoma glanced at her. "It has nothing to do with you, don't think too much."

Sakuno bit her lips. Even though Ryoma denied it, but she was sure that it has everything to do with her. After all, why would he run away from home? His mother must have not allowed him to come to the bar today, that's why... It was all her fault!

Ryoma stared at Sakuno. He sighed. He knew Sakuno would think everything was her fault no matter how he denied it. Though it was true, it was all her fault. But he did not blame her. After all, he did it ever so willingly. And he did it so that Sakuno would be happy. Now with her blaming herself, it totally ruined his objectives. "Come here." He beckoned.

"?" Sakuno moved towards Ryoma, curious at Ryoma's order.

Ryoma's hands immediately wrapped around Sakuno's waist, and pulled her closer. "R…Ryoma-kun…?" Sakuno exclaimed in consternation, as she felt Ryoma's head resting on top of her head.

"Shh, don't make a sound." Ryoma whispered to her ears. "I'm very tired, and exhausted. So let me rest here for a while…"

Sakuno blushed, as she felt Ryoma snuggled into her hair, tightening his grip around Sakuno's waist. Ryoma was planting small but rather wet kisses on her hair, which made Sakuno blushed even more. "I ran away from home…because of my grades…I've been doing very badly in school nowadays…my mom just got so …pissed at me…it has nothing to do with you…really." Ryoma said, kissing Sakuno's hair after every pause.

It felt so good…the way Ryoma was holding her and kissing her. Ever since she took on this job she had been hugged and kissed by many different guys, and she always felt disgusted about it, but had to hide her disgust. However, even though whatever Ryoma was…doing to her was the same as those other guys, the feeling was different. She felt as if…as if she wanted him to kiss her more, to hug her closer, to never stop kissing her because it felt so…Sakuno could feel herself burning in her cheeks when Ryoma smelled her hair in a deep, relieved breath.

"If…if you are deteriorating in your studies…I can…help…then we can do schoolwork every Friday, instead of just us sitting here doing nothing." Sakuno said, with much difficulty, as her breathing was getting deeper and quicker.

"Okay…thanks…Sakuno…" Ryoma whispered as he moved his head down to lean against Sakuno's neck.

"R…Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno shrieked a little when Ryoma bit a part of her neck.

"Y…you don't mind…me calling you…by your last name…do you?" Ryoma asked, kissing Sakuno's neck.

"Huh? I…I…don't…ah!" Sakuno shrieked as she grabbed Ryoma's pants and gripped it tight. She panted, as she felt Ryoma licking her neck. "I…I don't mind…Ryoma…kun…But where…will you be sleeping today…if you are…not going back…to home…?"

Ryoma answered, kissing Sakuno's neck after every pause, going further down her neck every kiss. "I hope…I can sneak in…if not…maybe I'll jus stay…at…Momo-sempai's house…I don't know…if I said I want to go to your house…and sleep in…your room…in your bed…together with you…would you agree…?"

"…I don't mind…"

Ryoma stopped his tasting of Sakuno's neck, and turned Sakuno around so she could face him. "You…don't mind…?" He asked again, blushing a deep crimson red.

"Y…yeah…since…my grandma's not at home…and my parents don't live with me…" Sakuno said. "Y…you can come over my house…I don't mind…us sharing…a bed…" Sakuno's voice gets softer and softer as she spoke, but Ryoma could hear it clearly.

"…so…I'll stay at your house tonight…then…" Ryoma said, trying not to smile too widely, as he trembled with excitement.

"Y…yeah…" Sakuno nodded.

Ryoma caressed Sakuno's head for a while, when he suddenly sat up straight, composed himself and pushed Sakuno away from him, then seated himself far away from her. He coughed a bit, embarrassed, before saying. "Thanks for letting me stay at your house. But…I don't think it's wise to let me sleep in…the same bed…I don't think what I did just now was wise too…I was rash…please…forgive me." Ryoma said, fidgeting with his signature hat.

Sakuno fidgeted too. Just now…really was awkward. She had no idea why Ryoma started doing that. It was so weird, since they've never really been so close before. It kind of shocked her, but she just...blended into it so well...well, in a way, she had been waiting for quite some time for this kiss to happen...it felt…so good. But it was...wrong...and judging by what Ryoma said, he was probably not going to do that anymore; that's a pity…I really wanted him to kiss me again…

Sakuno shook her thought away. "O…okay…erm...Ryoma-kun…meet me outside here at 9pm, we…we'll go…home…together…"

Ryoma nodded, adjusting his hat. "…okay."

XxXxX

**Ok! End of Chapter! Well I think the ending of the story is weird… but ANYWAY! **

**I'm back from China phew. I seriously don't get how people in China lived without facebook, twitter, youtube and blogspot. -.-**

**Alright, I'll update faster now don't worry! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Eeeps my computer crashed, and I lost everything that I've written. So I need to write everything again… Sigh… So I might be rather slow at updating cuz I write really slowly. **

**Sorry! Enjoy this chapter though!**

XxXxX

Sakuno hopped into the classroom cheerfully, humming a happy tune. Nothing can beat her mood today. Yesterday night had been really awesome. She recalled back as a faint blush flashed through her face.

They didn't really do anything actually. They had just lain on the bed and stayed up late all night talking to each other. (Of course they were sleeping on different beds, Ryoma's face was crimson red when he insisted that he would give Sakuno all the privacy she ever needed, he was not going to do any extreme stuff, he swore.) As a girl that hardly ever gets the chance to really speak to Ryoma, and was only able to eye him from afar, talking for hours like that was really a wonderfully fresh experience.

Sakuno bit her lips, slightly embarrassed as she thought back. It's weird, after yesterday, it feels like she had known Ryoma all along. She chuckled as she remembered how Ryoma was complaining about how he misses his cat.

"Sakuno." A deep and grave voice sounded, scaring Sakuno a bit.

"Oh, Tomo-chan, what's with the serious face?" Sakuno asked, trying to lighten the mood again.

Tomoka pulled her to the back of the class quickly, looking around to ensure that no one was eavesdropping. Sakuno blinked in curiousity as Tomoka pulled her close and whispered to her secretively. "There's a rumour going on."

Sakuno almost laughed out loud in relieve. Haha, and she had thought it was something really serious. So, it was another rumour huh. Sakuno knew in her hearts that not one of the rumours that this school is very prone to spread was true. Though she would always pity the subject involve in the rumours, as the rumours normally trend in the school for quite some time, and they would be quite notorious whether they wanted it or not. That's why Sakuno had always tried not to care about the rumours as much as possible.

Tomoka saw Sakuno's face, and frowned. "Hey, this is really important, it has something to do with you!"

"Something to do with me?" Sakuno perked up. Oh no, it couldn't be…her work in the Aging Bar was exposed?

"Yeah." Tomoka said somberly. "They say…" She pulled Sakuno closer, and whispered in a very soft voice (though Sakuno had no idea why she did that – she bet the whole school knew about this already, there's no reason to hide). "Ryoma goes to the Aging Bar."

"W…what?" Sakuno exclaimed, shocked. Dread and guilt started gushing into Sakuno's heart a like waterfall. Oh gosh, hope the rumour doesn't get too bad, or else it's all her fault…

"They say Ryoma goes to the bar every week, and the fact that he was working his butt off lately was to earn money to go to that bar. I think Ryoma…is _addicted_ to it." Tomoka said, scowling in disapproval. "And recently he got kicked out of his house by his mother, because his mother found out about it. So apparently now, he's living with one of the…" Tomoka gulped for effect. "…_prostitutes_."

Sakuno gasped.

"I know right, it's so freaking scary, I mean who knows Ryoma would do this kinds of things." Tomoka said, shaking her head.

Sakuno wanted to shout at her, that the reason she gasped was because the rumours were not true, and she can't believe it that the school is going to spend the next few weeks twisting the facts further. It was all her fault, it was all her fault!

Ryoma just wanted to help her, yet he got into all sorts of trouble. Firstly he got chased out of the house by his mother, his grades were deteriorating, now false rumours were spreading around. Ryoma did not deserve all that! He's a kind-hearted soul that just wanted to help her, and help his coach. The real person at fault was her; she's the one that chose this job and dragged Ryoma into it! The more Sakuno thought about it, the more she wanted to cry, right in front of the horribly gossiping class.

"Oh, you guys heard of Ryoma already?" Horio butted in.

"Yeah, it's so shocking!" Tomoka exclaimed.

"Can't believe it right?" "Yeah, and to think he's the school's mascot." "He used to be so good, top scorer and tennis pro, gosh what happened to him now?" "Puberty?" "Sigh, what will the other schools think of us now?" "I heard that his seniors brought him to the bar as a joke to lighten his mood, but he ends up getting addicted to going there." "Asked the senior, he was equally shocked at this too." "Gosh still can't believe he goes to the Aging Bar." "Yeah, the _Aging Bar_! Goodness…" "He's such a pervert; I can't believe I used to like him. Argh, thinking about it now disgusts me…" "Yeah, he's so sick in the mind…" "I do not want to know what he did to the girls there."

The entire class started joining in the discussion. People from other classes came peeking into the class, thinking that they might have a more detailed explanation since Ryoma was in this class.

Sakuno felt like puking, as she stared disgustedly at the scene.

"_Shhh!_ Ryoma's coming!" "Quick, disperse!" They went back to their seats.

Ryoma stepped into the class nonchalantly. Sakuno stared at Ryoma with eyes of worry, along with the glares from the rest of her classmates. Ryoma, either he did not notice all the glares (which was kind of hard to do), or he just acted as if he did not notice, ignored the class as he walked to his seat.

"Pervert." Sakuno heard someone whisper softly. "Where's your _girlfriend_?" She heard another taunt him in a very low voice.

Sakuno's heart ached, as if someone had stabbed her in her heart mercilessly.

This was all her fault…

XxXxX

"_Riiiing!_" The bell rang. Before anyone was able to get off their seats, Sakuno had already grabbed the two lunchboxes, and bolted out of the class.

Ryoma blinked as he stared at the immediately emptied seat of Sakuno. Her other friends are also wondering about Sakuno's weird behaviour (in a rather loud voice that he can't stand), and giving him the glares.

He sighed as he slowly got up from his seat and walked towards the rooftop. He felt a thousand times more pressurized now, in a not very good way. Previously, wherever he walked, there would be students staring at him admirably, giving him the creeps. But now, the feeling was way worse when they were all glaring at him now. Sometimes he wished they could keep their gossips down a level, and not make it too obvious.

He opened the door slowly. Behind the soft creaking noise of the door, he could hear sobs. Sakuno must be crying for him, because of all those rumours.

"Hey." He called out softly, getting her attention.

Sakuno looked up, and wiped her face vigorously.

Ryoma's eyes softened as he saw Sakuno's red puffy eyes. "Come on, Sakuno, I'm not even crying, why are you crying?" He asked, slightly amused, as he took out a tissue for Sakuno.

"B…but…they were talking about you…and…it's horrible…" Sakuno said between sobs.

"But I'm not making a huge fuss out of it, am I? So stop crying, okay?"

"B…but…it's all my…f…fault…" She spluttered, as her sobs got bigger.

Ryoma pulled Sakuno close, and let Sakuno lay on his chest while she continued crying. "Come on, don't cry." He said gently. "It's not your fault."

"Y…yeah…it's all my fault…I got you to this…"

"I don't mind, alright? I did it willingly."

"B…but…they are talking…horrible stuff…about you…"

Ryoma sighed. "I told you I don't mind already; don't cry about this so much."

"B…but…they…say you're…a pervert…and…"

"I know what they call me, Sakuno, and I said I don't mind already!" Ryoma said, a bit too loudly.

Sakuno stopped crying, as she stared at Ryoma, frightened at his sudden outburst.

Ryoma sighed. This is bad, all the stress he accumulated just came out. "Sorry, Sakuno, I didn't mean to be so fierce…it's just…I really don't mind, alright?"

Sakuno nodded reluctantly.

Ryoma kissed her gently on the forehead. "If you really feel so bad, just work harder to earn money and get out of the job as soon as possible, alright?"

Sakuno nodded. In his head, Ryoma made a mental note that he had to work harder for Sakuno too.

"Let's eat." Ryoma said, taking the lunchbox from Sakuno.

Sakuno nodded, as she watched Ryoma eat. "Erm, Ryoma-kun, you're working too, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well...can I go visit you sometimes, since you always visit me in my work."

"Yeah, okay."

Sakuno smiled to herself happily, and started to eat.

XxXxX

**Yeah, it's kind of short, sorry. ): **

**Reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Enjoy this chapter! **

XxXxX

Rinko looked up at the building. _Monosports School._ Ryoma must be somewhere behind these buildings.

That boy…according to those rumours that they were spreading like wild-fire, he must be happily living with one of those lowly girls' house. Damn him, it's all because of Ryoma that she did not dare to look at anybody's eyes now. And the other day, Ms. Misako was boasting about the rumours so proudly, and acting so 'concerned', argh…it's so humiliating…

And so here she is, in front of Ryoma's supposed workplace. It had better be real because if she found out that he had been lying to her even about his workplace, she's totally going to faint of anger.

"_Hey, where are you going?" "To give Ryoma a piece of my mind! Damn it I freaking hate that woman!" "Che, but you're the one that chased him out of the house." "Shut up you useless bum! I'm going to find Ryoma!" "What for? I thought you vowed not to care about him anymore?" "I'm not going to care about him, I'm just going to find him, that's all!"_

_That stupid pervert Nanjirou just had to stare at her with such disbelieving eyes. "If you miss him just say so…" He had whispered._

"_I do not miss him!" She had shouted._

Yeah, she kind of missed him.

She missed the sound of him practicing with Nanjirou after school, the shuffling of his feet, the 'tok' sound the tennis ball always made. She missed the voice, no matter how tired or exhausted he would be, when Ryoma entered the house, shouting "I'm home!" She missed the way he fed Karupin, she missed the way he always got irritated when he found out that they had run out of Ponta. She missed the way she always had to remind him to do his schoolwork and not immerse himself all day with tennis practice. And she would miss his frustrated expression after that, clearly wanting to continue practicing…

Yeah, she missed his son a lot.

Well, to be more specific, she missed his old self. Even if Ryoma was her son, she would still not forgive Ryoma and let him into her house if he continued going to that Aging Bar.

She sighed. But even so, she was still his mother, and she could not sleep properly yesterday night, and probably never will if she did not see him for herself and ensure that he is alright.

So Ryoma had better not be lying when he told her that his workplace was here.

"Excuse me, boys." She called out to a group of running boys, about seven or eight years old, holding onto tennis rackets. "Could you tell me where does Echizen-sensei teach?"

They blinked in curiousity. "Eh, nee-san, you want to learn tennis from him?"

Before Rinko was able to reply, the group of boys broke out into a heated discussion.

"No, nee-san, don't go to him!" "Yeah! He's evil!" "He's really fierce!" "Yeah, I was under him once, and I was late for ten minutes, and he made me run twenty laps!" "He's cruel!" "He doesn't let us talk in practice!" "He made a girl cry before!" "Yeah, Haruhi, right? Nee-san, don't go to him, Haruhi did not practice what he told her to, then he scolded her till she cried!" "Yeah, it was horrible!" "But he did gave her a lollipop after that…"

Rinko stared at them, amused, as they continued complaining about Echizen-sensei. Strict and uptight, that was just so like him…

"So, he's not nice, isn't he?"

Rinko had expected a loud and unanimous "Yes!", but it did not come. Instead, the boys just started scratching their heads and fidgeting.

"No, nee-san, he's quite nice actually…" "Yeah, he would give us little sweets and would praise us when we did well." "Yeah, and he's really good at teaching." "I think he's the best among all the other coaches. I can understand him better." "And he's one of the few teachers that can appreciate our jokes too!" "Yeah! Though if we joked at inappropriate times he would give us harsh punishments…"

Rinko smiled at the change in attitude of the boys. A moment ago they were complaining about him, but now they were praising him? Maybe he was just too strict for his own good. "So, could you tell me where does he teach?"

The boys pointed in the direction of the east. "Court 5."

"Thanks."

The boys giggled slightly. "He brought his girlfriend along too." They commented, laughing cheekily. "So he's slightly nicer today."

Girlfriend? It couldn't be, he actually brought the much talked about girl over to his workplace? This is outrageous!

Rinko stood up straight suddenly, face glaring with lividness. Great, she's going to meet that girl, so today she is so going to beat the crap out of that damn girl that made Ryoma run away from home!

She walked hastily towards court 5, ignoring the weird stares from the boys behind her.

"Hey, why are you late? Run 50 laps now!" Ryoma's stern ordering voice was heard distinctly even when Rinko was still halfway there.

"Eh~ Come on Echizen-sensei, I had detention, I can't help it, blame it on my teacher!"

"I said 50 laps, didn't you hear me?"

The little boy groaned for a while, and looked at a certain girl sitting at the bench with puppy eyes. "Sakuno-chan, I had detention…"

"No asking Sakuno for help, run your 50 laps now!"

The girl, supposedly Sakuno, ran up to Ryoma with a towel. "Come on, Ryoma, he's only late for five minutes." She said, trying to help the boy, wiping the sweat off Ryoma's face. "Why do you need to punish him that harshly? He's already punished enough with a detention." Seeing Ryoma's unnerved expression, she added sweetly. "Come on…"

Ryoma rolled his eyes. "Whatever…" He said softly.

The girl smiled. She turned to the boy. "Alright then, Sam, just run 5 laps for warm-ups, okay?"

"Okay! Thanks Sakuno-chan!" Sam said happily, as he started running.

Ryoma sighed as he watched his student run. He wrapped his hands casually around Sakuno's waist. "Gosh you are spoiling them too much…"

The girl smiled as she continued wiping Ryoma's sweat.

Rinko glared at the scene. Oh gosh, the girl is so annoying… Rinko thought as she stared at them. Goodness me, the way Ryoma was holding onto her, they were so close! Rinko just could not imagine what they were doing every night…

Sakuno, huh? So it was her that made Ryoma rebel against her, that made Ryoma disobey his mother's words for the first time, that made Ryoma run away from home, and made her so worried about him, and made her lose her face in front of that damn Ms. Misako… It was all that annoying girl's fault!

That girl, she's going to get it…

She crept silently towards the courts, so that Ryoma would not notice her, but that annoying girl would. "Psst! Hey!" She whispered.

The auburn hair girl frowned as she seemed to hear something. She turned her head as she spotted Rinko. She looked around, and pointed to herself. "Me?" She seemed to say.

"Yes you! Come here!" Rinko whispered, irked, as she signaled Sakuno to follow her. Sakuno blinked in confusion and followed Rinko hesitantly.

"Erm, may I help you?" Sakuno asked, as she approached Rinko.

Rinko rolled her eyes. "Let's get straight to the point, shall we, so you don't need to act nice and all. Listen, I'm Ryoma's mother, and I'm asking you, no, I'm ordering you, to leave Ryoma now, _Sakuno_."

It took a while for Sakuno to digest what she said. And when she did, she gasped. "Y…you're…Ryoma's…mum?"

"Yes, I am Ryoma's mum." Rinko said, smiling slightly at Sakuno's shocked and frightened face. "Why? You scared now?" She threatened further.

"E…Echizen-san!" Sakuno exclaimed, almost shouting. "You've misunderstood Ryoma!"

Rinko blinked. Okay…this was not the kind of response she was expecting. She was expecting the girl to apologise, or at least get angry and call her to "F**k off, b*tch", or cry and run over to Ryoma for help, or laugh at her for her stupidity at her request. But shouting something like that so fervently…was not something she had in mind. So Rinko had no idea how to react to this sentence, and just stood there while Sakuno poured everything to her.

"It's like this, Echizen-san, Ryoma-kun was only going to the Aging Bar because of me! My grandmother is sick, and I need to earn money for her treatment, so I started working at the Aging bar because that place gives the highest salary for a part time worker. And in the Aging Bar, I'll get a double and a pay rise whenever I have a regular, and that's what Ryoma is doing; he's coming over loyally every week to become a regular of mine! We do nothing wrong, nothing…nothing that everyone was gossiping about! He's not addicted or anything, he's not a pervert! He's just coming over for 30 minutes every week to let me get a double so that my grandmother can be treated sooner, since my grandmother is his tennis coach after all…"

Sakuno said the whole chunk with one breath, so now she gasping for breath, and tears were circling in her eyes, ready to come out anytime soon.

Rinko stared at the girl, this time it was her that was given time to digest whatever that was said. "So…Ryoma did not become sick in his mind, he just wanted to help you."

Sakuno nodded her head. "Yeah…" She said.

So…all these times, she had misunderstood Ryoma all along. But why didn't Ryoma explain to her then? Guilt rushed into Rinko's heart, but she frowned, as she thought over it logically again. "Well, I still can't forgive Ryoma, or you." Rinko said. Sakuno blinked in surprise at Rinko.

"Well, firstly, just because of you, Ryoma's grades were deteriorating, Ryoma ran away from home and broke my heart, weird, disgusting rumours started to spread out that might as well ruin the rest of us Echizens' lives…And it's all you and your insensible and selfish means to earn as much money as possible. How am I going to forgive you? Huh? How great are you for Ryoma to do all those for you?" Rinko said harshly.

She watched as the pig-tailed girl broke into tears, sniffing hardly as she tried to apologise. "I…I'm…really…sorry…I didn't mean to…harm R…R…Ryoma like…that…"

Rinko sighed. "Don't cry that much." She said, taking out a tissue for her. Sakuno took the tissue and rubbed her puffy cheeks. Sakuno did look kind of cute, now that she thinks of it. The tight sports clothes she was wearing showed off her body curves perfectly, and her miniskirt traced her thighs nicely too. _She's really pretty…_

Knowing her son, she could roughly guess the reason why Ryoma did all that for her. Ryoma was just like his father, a man without words, doing everything for the girl despite whatever trouble it was causing him. Rinko smiled unknowingly as she continued thinking. Maybe she should not have been that harsh on Sakuno. It was not totally her fault, Ryoma probably did all those willingly.

"A…Anou…Echizen-san…so are you going to let Ryoma back to your house…?"

Rinko laughed a little. "It's alright, he can continue living at your house." He'll probably wish for that too.

Sakuno blinked. "Huh?"

"It's so troublesome taking care of him. So I'd rather count on you to take care of him. Make sure his grades are back to where it was." Rinko said, walking away.

Sakuno bowed. "Thank you, Echizen-san! I'd make sure to get him to study very hard everyday!"

Rinko smiled in reply. Sigh…in a way, it is assuring to have such a responsible daughter-in-law taking care of my son.

Now that she knows Ryoma is in safe hands, she can leave with no regrets.

XxXxX

**Alright, this chapter is a bit screwed since I rushed it out. Hope you enjoyed anyway!**

**Reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sooo sorry that I'm late! Please forgive me… Hope you enjoy this chapter…**

**XxXxX**

Ryoma fidgeted, as he looked up at his house. His house door has never looked that intimidating before in his whole life.

He sighed; this is all Sakuno's fault. Why did he have to go and apologise? This is so not Ryoma-like… anyway, a promise is a promise… he had promised Sakuno that he would come apologise (with the fact that she would do anything he asked her to later), he raised his hands with much efforts, and knocked the door reluctantly.

Ryoma waited in front of the door, heart beating faster than normal, even faster than when he was playing a tennis match. The feeling when you are nervous really sucks, Ryoma thought. It had been quite some time since he last felt butterflies in his stomach… When the door opened, his heart stopped a beat.

_Goodness, it's so embarrassing, THE Ryoma having to apologise…_

"Meow!" A cat jumped on Ryoma.

"Oof!" Ryoma hugged his cat just in time. "Karupin, you shocked me…" He said, ruffling the cat's furry white coat. "Did you miss me?" He asked, kissing the cat gently. It has been weeks since he last saw the Himalayan cat, he really missed the cat. Even though he did not dare admit it, and with Sakuno around, he did not really feel the need of the cat to keep him company, but now with the cat in his arms, he could not help but feel the strong burning feeling he has in him.

The cat meowed back, and Ryoma interpreted it as a 'Yes I missed you'. "Karupin, I missed you too…Wish you could come stay with us, but you might be a nuisance to Sakuno…" He whispered quietly to the cat, ruffling it as the cat purred blissfully.

"Ah, Ryoma-san, you're back!"

Ryoma looked up. "Nanako." He greeted.

Nanako smiled, happy to see that her cousin is back. She turned around to see if anybody was behind her, and leaned closer towards Ryoma, and whispered. "Aunt said that she would definitely not allow you home unless you apologise…"

"I know." Ryoma shrugged.

Nanako blinked. "Eh? So you mean…you're here to…apologise…?"

Ryoma flushed in embarrassment. He focused on picking out dirt from Karupin's skin, suddenly interested in the shades of brown and white of Karupin.

Nanako laughed slightly, unable to believe what she was seeing. In front of her was a very embarrassed Ryoma, which was really rare to see. After all, Ryoma was ever embarrassed; he was always so confident and arrogant. Furthermore, this is unbelievable, you mean the Ryoma really _is_ going to apologise? This is probably the once-in-a-lifetime experience. It must have taken quite a lot of courage for him though… Nanako smiled encouragingly as she said. "Wait, I'll call aunt over."

Ryoma watched as his cousin run to get his mother. He hid his face inside of Karupin's fur. Argh, he can't believe it…the way Nanako was staring at him, it was as if the sun had just risen from the West or something…

Damn it, he's starting to really regret coming here in the first place… Should he quickly leave this dang place before Mom comes? Or else when she comes, even if there's a monster underneath him to swallow him up also would not help in regaining his pride anymore… _Argh, but a promise's a promise. I promised Sakuno…_

"Wow, Ryoma, you're really here to apologise, huh?"

Damn it, it's too late to hide now… He looked up at his mother finally, flushing lightly when he answered. "Yeah."

Rinko stood at the door comfortably, waiting for more smugly.

"Erm…I'm sorry I ran away from home, and also pushed you to the ground that time…" He said, while fidgeting with his signature hat.

Rinko watched, amused, at her son. Oh my God, his son actually apologises! His son, Echizen Ryoma, the one with the utmost pride in his every bit of skin, actually apologises! There's no way this could be happening. Hmm, unless it was that cute girl that asked him to do it… She thought, smiling. "Apology accepted, but to enter this house, erm…" Rinko pretended to consider. "You'll have to kneel."

Ryoma glared. "What? Are you freaking serious?" There's no friggin' way, no way in hell is he going to kneel just for apologising! He did not even do anything really serious to deserve that! He just ran away from home to meet Sakuno, Rinko was the one that did not allow him back home. Damn it, his mother really is asking too much. There's still a limit to the amount of pride he could give away, and his promise did not include him having to give away that much pride anyway.

Rinko shrugged. "Well then, don't come back then, I know you want to live with that girl."

Ryoma blinked. Huh, what was his mother trying to say? She knew Ryoma wants to stay…and she just allowed it? "Oh, okay…" He said tentatively.

"Wait, Ryoma."

Ha knew it, she was not going to let him off that easily…

Rinko smiled. "The amount of money you earned is more than enough to spend in…whatever Bar, right?"

Ryoma frowned. "Yeah." He muttered simply, still wondering what's his mother was trying to say.

"So what did you do to the rest of the money?"

Ryoma kept quiet, wondering whether it was safe to say. Mom was acting weird, first openly allowing him to stay at someone else's house, now asking him weird questions. Well, he sucked at lying anyway, so he had just better say the truth… "I gave it to her manager."

"What?"

"The girl was earning so little money, I gave my money to her manager for her pay rise."

Rinko blinked, as she digested what Ryoma said. That means…the pay rise Sakuno was talking about ever since Ryoma came, was because of this? A new found admiration for her son grew in her heart. Heh, not bad, Ryoma can be so nice to girls sometimes. She dug into her pocket.

"Ryoma."

Ryoma blinked as he stared at the wads of cash in his mother's hands. "This is for Sakuno."

"Wha…" Ryoma blinked again, confused. Since when did his mother know about Sakuno? Why was she acting so weird? Why was she so nice to him and all…? And what's with the money…?

"You can use it in any way you deem fit on Sakuno, give her another pay rise, or buy some necklace for her or whatever. Just make sure to woo her successfully." She winked at her son. "I want a cute girl like her to be my daughter-in-law soon."

Ryoma blushed slightly. He took the money from his mother with slightly shaky fingers. "T…thanks, mom." He said, still rather tentatively.

"Have fun. Remember to ask her out for a date." Rinko said, smiling kindly. Ryoma blushed a deeper red. Geez, seriously, what's wrong with his mother, she's getting more and more like baka oyaji… He nodded slightly, and walked away with unsure steps, as if waiting for his mother to call him back every minute, which she did not.

Rinko sighed as she stared at her son's back. Her son had really grown up so big huh…The way he blushed just now was quite cute too.

XxXxX

Sakuno sat on her sofa, doing her homework.

She had sent Ryoma to look for his mother to apologise. After Rinko spoke to her, she had been feeling guilty ever since then, guilty that she was the one that made Ryoma ran away and broke her heart, guilty that she's the one that made Ryoma deteriorate in his studies, and hence causing worry for her… She had apologised continually to Rinko, but she did not think it was enough. What's the point of her apologising? Rinko would feel so much better when Ryoma apologise.

After much tiring and exhausting persuading, Ryoma finally went to apologise. (She had to sacrifice much too, since she somehow promised that she would have to agree to whatever Ryoma was going to ask her later…) Though Sakuno did feel as if there's an empty hole in her heart now. She had been so stupidly excited just because Ryoma was living with her (but they seriously didn't do anything exciting, trust me!) She shouldn't make such a huge fuss just because they stayed up late talking to each other, just because she got the chance to tutor Ryoma…

She sighed. She shouldn't think about the days spent with Ryoma. Ryoma went to apologise, so he would probably not be coming back to stay with her. Oh…Sakuno rolled over, feeling a strong heartache.

She shouldn't make such a huge fuss! After all, they never do anything much together anyway…

"Ow…" Sakuno groaned despite what she was telling herself, and rolled over again.

The door opened. Ryoma came in.

Sakuno blinked. What? Why did Ryoma come back? He apologised, so there should be no reason for him to come back anymore. Did he leave anything here or something…?

Ryoma blinked. "Erm, weird position…" he commented blushing a bit.

Sakuno blinked, and looked down at herself. Goodness she was lying on her stomach on the sofa, with her legs sprawled on top of the sofa, leaving her sort of hanging upside down. Plus, she's wearing a skirt… She flushed a deep red.

"Ah…ah!" Sakuno immediately turned back to a proper sitting position. "I…I'm sorry…!" She said, flustered._ Why the hell did I roll so much just now…?_

Ryoma fidgeted with his hat, trying to hide the faint blush growing on his face.

Sakuno composed herself, and stopped herself from growing too hot over it. Ryoma did not have any strong reactions, so he probably did not see anything…_probably_…

She shook her head from thinking too much. "A…Anou…R…Ryoma-kun…why…are you here…? I thought…I told you to…go and…apologise…?"

Ryoma chuckled. "Where's the energy from the morning you used to scream at me to apologise go to?"

Sakuno flushed even deeper, if possible. "I…I…M…mou…Ryoma-kun…answer my question…" She stammered.

Ryoma wanted to laugh at the apple-faced girl more, but decided not to torture the girl too much. He shrugged. "I went and apologised like you asked. But my mother still doesn't allow me to go back, so I'll just stay with you for a longer while." Ryoma peered at her. "You don't mind, right?"

Sakuno jumped up, stuttering. "O…of course! I'd love for you to come back and stay with me!" She exclaimed.

Ryoma laughed. "Heh, didn't know you were so excited."

Sakuno blushed. "M…Mou, Ryoma-kun…" She said, looking at the floor. Well, it was obvious that she would be excited. She had been trying in vain to not feel so sad over Ryoma leaving her, so it's great that Ryoma was still staying with her.

"Mada mada dane. Ne, I apologised, so remember your promise?"

Sakuno blinked. Oh yeah, Ryoma made her promise that she would do anything Ryoma asked for… Sakuno gulped. This is bad…what if Ryoma asked her to do weird stuff? Weird and horrible stuff? Like…like… Sakuno gulped once again, as dread began climbing up to her heart. "R…Ryoma-kun…p…please…don't ask…weird…stuff…"

"I'll ask for two things."

"Heh? Two? T…that's unfair…!"

Ryoma stared at Sakuno, shutting her up. "First, from now on, call me Ryoma, no honorifics."

Sakuno blinked. That's easy enough…_And I've always wanted to do it too anyway..._ "O…Okay…"

"Try it."

"R…Ryoma…" She said. It felt weird…she had this tingling feeling in her heart when she said it; it's like she seems too close to Ryoma…

"Good. Second, next Saturday, you will go on a date with me."

"What?" Sakuno exclaimed, shocked.

Ryoma repeated. "Next Saturday, go on a date with me."

Sakuno blushed, and nodded. A promise's promise, right? _Since she wanted to go as well…_

Ryoma smiled. "Alright, prepare yourself well then."

"…Okay…"

"…"

"Oh, Ryoma-kun, do your math homework!"

"No."

"Eh, why?"

"You're supposed to call me Ryoma, remember?"

Sakuno blushed. "Oh…sorry…I forgot…Ryoma…"

Ryoma smiled. "Good." He walked towards Sakuno, sitting next to her comfortably.

"R…Ryoma…do you homework…"

"Hai…" He answered, pulling her nearer for a kiss.

XxXxX

**End of chapter! Reviews! I rushed it so it's not very good since I didn't really edit it enough, sorry!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry for the late update! Sorry! I was really busy, you see. I have band practices three days a week (like literally take up the whole day -.-), and piano exam is coming, and my guitar teacher is asking too much from me, and I have lots of holiday homework and readings to do…_

_I hope you forgive me. Please read and enjoy._

XxXxX

A peaceful day at Seigaku, Horio, Katsuo and Kachiro were happily chatting away…

"Trouble, trouble, big trouble!" Tomoka announced as she ran towards the clique.

"What is it?" Horio asked, staring at the panicking Tomoka curiously.

"Sa…Sakuno…she is with Ryoma-sama…!" Tomoka said in between breathes, pointing towards the window. "Look, you can see it from this window!"

Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo rushed to the window to see what Tomoka was saying.

"Where?" Horio asked, eager to see.

"There! Under that tree!" Tomoka pointed.

The other three squinted and followed the direction of her fingers. Sure enough, Sakuno and Ryoma were hiding under the tree, talking. Ryoma's arms were around Sakuno's waist, and they were so close, all Sakuno had to do was to tip-toe slightly, and her lips would touch Ryoma's.

"Whoa, since when are they so close to each other?" Kachiro exclaimed.

"I don't know. They must be having a secret relationship!" Tomoka said. "I mean, Sakuno didn't even tell me!" She added, her voice tainted with hurt.

"How could they have a secret relationship?" Horio cried. "If they have any relationship, we could definitely tell, right? And even me, the great Horio didn't even realise anything!"

"Eh? I thought it was pretty obvious…" Katsuo said timidly. "The stares they have been giving each other every time they walk by, and the way Sakuno-chan always disappears during lunchtime…I thought it were all pretty much a giveaway. I thought something funny was going between them, but wasn't sure." He stared at the couple. "I can't believe they have advanced to this stage already…"

"I…It was obvious?" Tomoka repeated in shock. "Why didn't I notice, too?"

Horio puffed out his chest, and added proudly. "I noticed too! Of course, I just have to notice these kinds of things, since I'm the closest to Ryoma!"

"…" The other three stared exasperatedly at him. "Didn't you say the exact opposite just a minute ago?"

"B…but…Sakuno can't be with Ryoma-kun…" Kachiro said. "I mean, not after what they say about him…what if Sakuno got…" Kachiro gulped. "Taken advantaged of?"

"Yeah, furthermore, Sakuno trusts Ryoma a lot." Katsuo added. "Ryoma-kun…what if he said something to Sakuno and Sakuno believed him?"

"Ah!" Tomoka exclaimed angrily. "How dare he cheat my Sakuno's feelings? How dare that dirty pervert get close to my best friend?" Tomoka shouted, gripping the window grills. "I know Sakuno loved Ryoma-sama, but I told her all about his…disgusting rumours! I mean, there's no way Sakuno, after hearing all that, would still want to be with Ryoma-sama! T…That pervert must have brainwashed her!"

The other three gasped. "B…Brainwash…?" Katsuo stammered.

Horio slammed his hands onto a nearby table exaggeratedly. "This despicable crime is not to be allowed in Seigaku!" He announced pompously. "That Echizen has to be stopped! We will not allow Sakuno to be harmed by him!"

It was one of the rare times that the other three actually agreed with what Horio said. "Yeah, I will knock some sense into Sakuno!" Tomoka said determinedly.

Suddenly Kachiro gasped. "Look! They're…kissing…"

The other three spun around to see what Kachiro was saying. They gasped along too when they saw Ryoma giving Sakuno a peck on her forehead.

"Goodness, look at how Sakuno-chan is blushing…"

Tomoka gripped the window grills with shaky hands. "I…I didn't know Sakuno had fallen so deeply into Ryoma-sama's brainwash…" She stood up suddenly. "As her best friend, I must save her! I'll talk some sense to her and snap her out of that dreamy trance she is in!"

"Dreamy trance?"

"If I must," Tomoka continued, taking out a pocket watch. "I would use this pocket watch to enchant her back to reality!"

"Shh!" Katsuo shushed them suddenly. "Sakuno's here!"

They kept quiet, and turned around to see Sakuno hopping to the class happily. Sakuno smiled at them cheerfully. "Good morning!"

"Good morning…" They answered.

"What's wrong?" Sakuno asked, worried about their lack of enthusiasm. Normally they would reply back ten times the volume, given their loud voices (actually, only Tomoka and Horio's voices), so what's with the sudden decrease in volume and excitement?

"Sakuno…" Tomoka said, facing her with an expression of sadness mixed with worry. "Why are you so close with Ryoma-sama?"

Sakuno blinked. "C…Close…? I'm…not close with him…" She stuttered, trying to lie her way out.

"We saw you snogging with that pervert!" Horio announced, again too loudly for his own good. The whole class started string at the five of them. Whispers and murmurs started breaking out among their classmates. Horio remained ignorant over this matter as he continued saying at the top of his voice. "How could you still be with Echizen after all those rumours?"

"Horio-kun, you are too loud…" Kachiro reminded him softly.

"Silence! I will be the one that will save poor Sakuno-chan from falling into the trap of Echizen!" Horio said, putting his hands on Sakuno's shoulders. "Sakuno-chan, I know you are being brainwashed by Echizen, snap out of it! Being with him only causes harm!"

Sakuno flushed red at the sudden attention from her class. Why must Horio say such things in such an abnormally loud voice? S…snogging? Ryoma just gave her a peck on the forehead, it's nothing! Why did Horio have to exaggerate the truth? How does he even manage speaking so abysmally loudly without damaging his throat? Now everyone was looking at the five of them, boring their eyes down at Sakuno accusingly. Sakuno wanted to shout at them, explain to them that there was nothing wrong being with Ryoma, Ryoma is completely innocent from all those horrible rumours, and that he is not a pervert and she is not brainwashed by him…

She sighed. They wouldn't believe her anyway. The only thing she could do was to work hard so that she could get out of her job as quickly as possible, and save Ryoma from this misery as soon as possible. For now… "A…Anou…I'm not brainwashed by him…"

"Then why are you so close with him?" Tomoka demanded, equally loud.

Sakuno fidgeted, wondering what to say. The whole class was staring at her, waiting for her to speak. She had better say something right, or else some weird gossip would start spreading around the school like wildfire. "Erm, well, I wanted to be with him…I…er…I like him…." She said, blushing a bit. It was easier telling the truth, and all the blame would be on her in this case, not on Ryoma anymore.

"Y…you…wanted to be with him…even after…" Tomoka said incredulously. "I know you liked him all along, Sakuno, but he has been to the Aging Bar, Sakuno! How could you still trust him?"

"He's really nice! He's not the…the erm…pervert that you all call him… I…erm…asked him out…and found out that he is quite nice, actually…really." Sakuno said, trying to defend Ryoma.

Tomoka, Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo exchanged worried glance to one another. They were pretty sure now that Sakuno was brainwashed. She is definitely brainwashed!

"Sakuno, there are so many other guys out there…" Tomoka said.

"But I like Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno said, more adamant this time. She stared at her friends, afraid of what they might say. When the four of them sighed in defeat, she cheered in relief silently. At least now they stopped asking weird questions, and Ryoma would be pretty much left alone…

XxXxX

Ryoma walked towards the rooftop, as he always did.

Recess was the only time Ryoma could really relax. He got to get away from his class that would pressure him with weird glares, get to catch some sleep after staying up late to do finish his stupid homework (Sakuno kind of forced him to it), and yes, he got to see Sakuno, privately, and eat her homemade food. Privately, freely, no stupid gossiping people to disturb them, just me and Sakuno…

But the damn recess only last for one hour. So freaking short…

Even tennis practice had not been fun either. This school really is great in spreading and exaggerating the rumours, and still make them highly convincing. Even Inui the data-collector seemed to believe them. Even though no one actually showed it, but from his seniors' actions, it seemed everyone is affected by those dumb rumours. The way they look at him, talk to him, even Kikumaru-sempai's hugs had been decreased to none.

And that damn Chemistry lesson just now was so humiliating. Why did sensei just have to let the whole class see his freaking 'D' in his quiz? I mean, he was not the only one, right, why just show his? And it was not his fault that he didn't have time to study, the teachers were the one that gave so much homework he had to stay up till past midnight to finish it, there was just no time to study. And that topic wasn't even important, he'd have plenty of time to revise it before the end-of-year's, what's with the big fuss…

Ryoma stopped in his tracks.

Someone was following him. All these times, and he did not notice it till now.

He frowned. He turned back to check.

Oh…so it was Horio and gang…even though they tried hiding, they were still very obvious. Ryoma shook his head at their 'talent' in spying, and walked another way, to a secluded place so that at least they could talk.

If he was not wrong, those people were Sakuno's friends. The fact that they are following him…either means they might have found out something about Sakuno, or they just wanted to make sure Sakuno was not around him. Leading them to the corridor along the science block would be the perfect space for them.

Alright, he's here. The corridor along the science block.

"Okay, you guys, come out of your hiding places." He said.

No response.

"I know you're there…" Ryoma repeated, getting bored. Why can't they just come out right at the start? Why do they have to pretend that they're not there when they are so bad at it?

Four people, one girl, three guys (the guys look familiar…oh, they are from the tennis club as well!) came out of the pillar they were hiding behind. "How'd you know we're here?" The girl asked.

Ryoma rolled his eyes, and refused to answer to this insanely dumb question. "What do you want?"

The four of them look at one another secretively. "I want you to break up with Sakuno." The girl said.

"What?"

"I know you've been brainwashing her, so that she trusts you and believes you. But we know better. You're trying to take advantage of her gullible character, but as her best friend, I will not allow that! So I demand that you break up with her and not see her again!" She said in a demanding but fearful tone.

She cringed a bit when Ryoma glared at her. _Are you freaking serious? They think that I'm brainwashing her? _Ryoma thought incredulously, marveled at their wild and creative imagination. Why can't they just accept the fact that both of them are clean and rightful couples, damn it?

Ryoma felt his temper rising. He's already pissed off, what with the recent development of his gossips, and with everyone ignoring him, and with that stupid teacher humiliating him… Now this? He had better get off the scene before he got mad and make everything worse.

"I don't want to." He said simply, and started to leave. He's hungry, this stupid detour just made him further from his lunch… Argh…He could hear his stomach growling…growling for Sakuno…

"I won't let you!" The girl stood in front of Ryoma, blocking his way, arms spread out in a protective manner. "I won't let you leave this place until you promise me that you will leave Sakuno alone, and not try to harm her!"

"I am not trying to harm her, woman." Ryoma said, irked.

"I don't believe you! I want you to leave her for good before I'm assured!"

Damn it, he has no time for these kinds of crap… Ryoma rolled his eyes and pushed the girl away harshly, walking past her.

The girl fell down to the side in surprise, and scratched her arm.

"Tomoka-chan! Are you alright?" The other three guys crowded around her, looking at her injury.

"Oi, Echizen, how can you hurt a girl?" Horio shouted at him.

Ryoma stared at Tomoka. Her arm had a long line of blood, but it was just a scratch, so there was no life danger or so. He got these scratches quite often while playing matches, so this girl shouldn't have much problem with it. "Che, not a big deal…" He muttered, though he did feel kind of apologetic. Because of his annoyance, he pushed the girl a bit too harshly than he actually wanted. Sigh, Sakuno would scold him after this…

"Not a big deal? Y…You heartless pervert!" Horio exclaimed, grabbing Ryoma by the collar. Ryoma slapped his hands away defensively, as Horio cringed from his strength.

"Oi, what's this ruckus?"

They turned around.

"Sensei! Echizen pushed Tomoka-chan!" Horio took the chance and started screaming as usual.

Nadaki-sensei raised his eyebrows and glared at Ryoma. "Come with me to my office." He said to Ryoma. And only Ryoma. Ryoma sighed. Guess the whole school is biased against him already.

XxXxX

"Explain." Nadaki-sensei said.

"They were blocking my way on purpose, but I need to eat lunch, so I pushed her aside. She must have tripped and injured herself." Ryoma said.

Nadaki raised his eyebrow sardonically. "Oh really?" He said, his voice filled with skepticism. "But Osakada-san said you _pushed_ her."

"Yes, I did push her, but it was because she was blocking…"

"She said she came to you because you wouldn't stop pestering Ryuuzaki-san. Is that true?" Nadaki asked harshly.

Pestering? That annoying girl actually changed the whole truth like that? How could she? Ryoma could feel his anger rising up in him. He had been feeling pissed all the while now, and this just made him boil. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "I was not pestering Ryuuzaki. We are just friends. Osakada is thinking too much."

"Hmm." Nadaki said simply, obviously not believing Ryoma. "Echizen-san, your behaviour nowadays has not been…good. Firstly, in every single subject, you have at least dropped a grade, and you even dropped four grades in math. There has been…weird rumours about you, saying that you go to the _Aging Bar_, trying to…speed up your growing process by…indulging yourselves in…despicable stuff. Now, you injured a student, pushing her in front of so many people, trying to pick a fight, just because she's trying to stand up for a friend against you." Nadaki glared at his form class student. Ryoma glared back as well, angry at the cynical accusations aimed at him. He swears, the goddamn rumours are going too far…

"Echizen-san, are you trying to be a delinquent? Because our school do not welcome delinquents like you, and will be more than happy to send you off to another school, even if you are a tennis prodigy. We do not care how much trophy you bring this school, if you continue to disgrace us like that, more so, by being a delinquent, we would chase you out of the school, do you hear me?"

Ryoma was fuming with anger, so he did not speak, fearing that his voice would betray him with all these livid blood rushing to his head.

"I hope you think about what I said, Mr. Echizen, and take note of your conduct. I do not want the same behaviour to happen again. You can go back to your class now."

Ryoma left the office, head literally smoking with angry fumes, stomach growling uncomfortably, lips almost bitten to half due to him trying not to speak out in Nadaki-sensei's office.

Recess just ended like that. His favourite time of the day, of the week, of the month, the time where he could rest from all the stress he had been going through, where he could take a break from all those angering stuff just ended like that. The only time in school where he could spend some good quality time with Sakuno…

"Ryoma, where have you been?" Sakuno asked, worried, when he walked back to the class.

He took a deep, deep breath. It's for Sakuno. If she's happy, everything is alright.

"Nothing." He mumbled, forcing a smile. "Sensei's coming in."

After all, he still had going home to look forward to, where he would have the whole house and Sakuno to himself.

XxXxX

_End! Review! I think about 3 or 4 more chapters and it would be done… Teehee this chapter is a bit sad, right?_

_I promise I will try and update faster. I have to. I don't want to carry this project all the way until school reopens… Then you'll get a really really slow update…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi! I'm back! I deeply apologise for my slowness.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**XxXxX**

"Competition is coming up soon. Even though Ryuuzaki-sensei is not here to help us get through this stage, and guide us along the way, we believe that with our potential, we can still make it. We must prove ourselves as strong tennis players whose mind and soul remains unwavering despite turbulences. We must make Ryuuzaki-sensei be proud of us, we must prove our strength to the world, this way, Ryuuzaki-sensei could then relax and do her treatments properly, without having to worry about us." Tezuka said solemnly, standing in front of the whole tennis club members. Every single member of the club was wearing an equally serious face.

"In order to do that," Tezuka increased his volume. "We must work hard! We must practice hard, for the competition, for our school's name!" He paused for effect. "And for Ryuuzaki-sensei." He added, with the members nodding their heads in agreement. "We will show Japan, no, the whole world, of our standard, that even without a coach, we are still good, and let them be scared of us in the next competition with our coach back!" The tennis club members started cheering in agreement unanimously. Tezuka waited for them to be silenced before continuing.

"So, I have asked Inui to increase the menu in our daily practice. Now, practice will last all the way till 8 o'clock everyday, and there will be an increase in morning practices along with lunch practices. I have spoken to the teachers in our school, raising their awareness of our schedule, asking for leniency in giving homework to the tennis club members just for this month. I want you guys to focus on this upcoming competition." He looked around. "There is no complain about this new schedule right?"

There was no response. Che, of course there would be no response. If someone ever disagreed, they would never see another sun arise again. Ryoma fidgeted around a bit uncomfortably, unsure of whether to raise his hands up or not. Seriously, until 8pm? How was he going to visit Sakuno anymore? How was he going to find time to coach those brats anymore? He sighed. Now he is literally, seriously stripped of all of his free time…

"Echizen."

Everybody turned around immediately to look at the freshmen that the Captain mentioned so suddenly, eyeing him rather reproachfully.

Ryoma blinked. "Yes?" He answered. Why did Tezuka call him suddenly? Why is everyone staring at him like that when he had done nothing wrong so far? He did not say his thoughts out loud, did he?

"I saw you sighing. You've got a problem with this new schedule?" Tezuka asked curtly.

Damn it, his captain had such sharp eyes. Or maybe it's just the rumours made Ryoma especially eye-catching (in a negative way) in everyone's eyes now. "No." He denied, though he silently cursed himself for not daring to say the truth. _Yes, he has got a problem with that schedule, I need to meet Sakuno at five every Friday,and I need to work for the better of this tennis club, Captain, and this stupid schedule just wrecked my own packed schedule and now I have to rearrange everything again!_

Tezuka held his stare on Ryoma for another few seconds, waiting for him to say more. Ryoma remained silent adamantly, and Tezuka went on to conclude his debriefing speech. "All right, I'm glad that everyone has agreed to this new schedule. You have all agreed to this, so I don't want anybody leaving practice early for whatever reason." This sentence seemed to be aimed at Ryoma, as Ryoma felt his heart clench in frustration. "We will start the schedule next week. Let us all work hard. Let's all aim to win the next competition, and don't let your guard down!"

"Seigaku!" "Fight-o, fight-o, fight-o!" "Seigaku!" "Fight-o, fight-o, fight-o!" "Win the competition!" "Fight-o, fight-o, fight-o!"

Ryoma cheered along half-heartedly, his mind filled with his plans for the near future.

If he was going to have practice until 8pm, this means he'll have to change the timing for his work, and push it all to Saturdays and Sundays. And Saturdays have practices too… Basically this means his whole weekend would be taken up. He would also have to call up that Carrie to tell her that he would be visiting Sakuno at 8.30pm instead, and also inform Sakuno when he reach home. 8.30 is quite a late timing, and he wasn't sure that he could even reach the bar by 8.30… Maybe he could be Sakuno's last customer, and then just go home with her after that. Yes, that'd be perfect…

His whole weekend would be taken up…

_His whole weekend would be taken up…_

This means…he would have no time for the date that he wanted with Sakuno. The only time available is…this weekend, before the schedule starts…

Yes, Sakuno promised him to a date, and she have to fulfill it somehow, but not with the new traumatising schedule. Maybe he'll ask Sakuno out for a date this Sunday. He'll ask immediately when he gets home. He blushed slightly thinking about it. Sigh, how is he going to ask…? Plus he have not even planned anything yet…

"Ochibi!" Eiji appeared in front of Ryoma suddenly, scaring him out of his little thought bubble. "What are you thinking, nya, I've been calling you since a minute ago!"

Ryoma pulled his trademark hat down, covering his pinkish face. "Nothing."

Eiji smiled cheerfully. "Wanna go out with us? Since today would be our last day that we can ever go out together, after next week our days would be packed!" Eiji exclaimed, doing large exaggerated hand movements and facial expression. "And it has been a long time since Ochibi last ate with us at the Burger Shop."

Ryoma glanced at his watch. It's 4.30. "I can't, Kikumaru-sempai, sorry." _I need to meet Sakuno at 5.00…_

Eiji stared at Ryoma, his childish grinning face slowly faded into a grave and serious face. "Echizen." Ryoma blinked. Eiji always called him 'Ochibi', suddenly calling him by his last name kind of scared him a bit. (A/N: Is it his last name or first name…?)

"Y…yes?"

"Tell me seriously." Eiji stared at him intensely as he asked his question in a very serious way that was very out-of-character for him. "Have you really been going to…that bar?"

Ryoma averted his eyes away from his senior. Damn it, it had been so long already, and nobody in the tennis club ever asked him any questions, probably didn't want to, or didn't dare to. He thought no one would ever ask. He never knew how to properly answer that question. Normally he would just ignore any loud-mouthed nosy strangers that just come and ask him questions like that so openly, but this is his senior. The reason Eiji asked him this question was perhaps because he could not believe those rumours, so telling the truth would ruin the trusts they had build between them for so long. But he could not lie too…Ryoma was bad at lying… "Why do you ask?"

Eiji sighed. "Because, I do not believe you would do these kinds of things. I need to know how much of those rumours were true." He pointed to Inui, who was standing quite near them, with his head. "Inui also said that the rumours don't match his data."

"Hn…" Ryoma answered, frowning, still figuring out how to answer this question. "Kikumaru-sempai…" He fidgeted with his hat, coming out with the best way to phrase what he was going to say. He sighed. "Trust me, I'm not a pervert."

Eiji continued staring at him, unable to trust him until he said his last words of confirmation.

"I…I do not go to the bar for whatever the reason the rumours state." He watched as his senior's cat-like eyes grew bigger. "But…yes, I do go to the bar…"

Eiji's mouth dropped open when Ryoma confessed, overcame with shock. "Y…you really…_do_ go there…?"

"Not for whatever reason you are thinking about." Ryoma tried to defend himself.

"Then for what reason?" Eiji demanded.

Ryoma looked away. He cannot say. Sakuno's reputation would be ruined, and she would hate him forever for not keeping the secret. "I'm sorry, Kikumaru-sempai, I cannot say…I really can't."

He turned around swiftly and walked back home as fast as possible, walk back to where Sakuno is, where his comfort zone is, leaving Eiji behind, mouth agape. He could feel the burns on his back caused by Kikumaru-sempai as he was walking away. _I'm sorry, Kikumaru-sempai…_

XxXxX

Sakuno stared at her wardrobe, biting her lips as she looked at all the plain and boring clothes she had. Ahh, she really had no nice dresses or anything, all her clothes are so uninteresting and simple! What was she going to wear to today's date? She sighed as she took off all her dresses from her cupboard and laid them on her bed, carefully analyzing them.

She really didn't have any nice dresses. Ryoma was going to be really disappointed in her… And this was her first ever proper date she was going to have with Ryoma…

"Sakuno, are you done?" Ryoma opened the door.

"No! I'm not!" Sakuno exclaimed, a little too loudly that made Ryoma close the door almost immediately, thinking that she was still half-way changing. "I mean…I…don't know what to wear."

Ryoma opened the door carefully again, peeking in. He relaxed a bit when he saw that Sakuno was still fully dressed. "What do you mean you don't know what to wear?" He looked at the bed. "Oh."

"Nothing's nice, right?" Sakuno said sadly. "I seriously have no nice dress to wear."

Ryoma frowned. "Che, why wear a dress?" He walked in the room and simply took out a few simple clothes. "Wear these." He ordered, and left the room.

Sakuno pouted as she stared at the T-shirts Ryoma took out. They were even more plain and boring than those dresses…Ryoma really did not have good taste, didn't he know that women liked to look pretty? Oh well, since he 'ordered' it…

She put on the T-shirt and shorts, and walked out of the room.

Ryoma's lips perked up slightly at the sight of Sakuno. "Not bad, you look cute in everything." He commented, laughing at Sakuno's blushing face.

"Alright, let's go." He said, casually tugging Sakuno's hands and walking out of the house.

Sakuno's face was still burning. She stared at her right hand, the hand that was lucky enough to be held by Ryoma's hand, when no one else in school or anywhere else had the opportunity to (and probably even his mother, Sakuno thought). Her heart was throbbing so hard, pumping so much blood into her face, she could almost feel it coming out of her chest.

"A…Anou…where are we going to…Ryoma?"

"I don't know." Ryoma said, a little bit too truthfully. He smiled cheekily. "I haven't got time to plan anything nice, I just needed a date with you before the crazy club schedule starts and I won't be seeing you a lot anymore…so..." He shrugged. "Where do you want to go?"

Sakuno shrugged as well, fidgeting under Ryoma's stare. "I…I don't know…I…I've never been to dates before…"

"Hn. Me too." Ryoma said simply.

"Y…You too? But…I thought…" Sakuno stammered in consternation. _I thought you were the school's most popular guy…_

"Well, a lot of girls ask me out, but I rejected them all, so…" Ryoma said, slightly regretfully. "I should have agreed to one of them, right? Then at least I'll be more experienced in these kinds of things…" He mused to himself.

"It…It's okay…we…we can go…erm…watch a movie or something." Sakuno suggested frantically.

"Hn. 'Kay." Ryoma said. "Alright, let's go."

They headed towards the cinema, hands held together tightly.

"You wait here, I'll go buy the tickets." Ryoma said when they reached the cinema. Their hands broke off for the first time since they left the house, and it was (as Sakuno noted) quite hesitant and reluctant.

Sakuno stood in the middle of the crowds, waiting for Ryoma to buy the tickets. Just now…Ryoma's hand let go of her hand so unwillingly, she thought happily. She felt her hand. It was still warm, and Ryoma's touch seemed to linger there still. She caressed her hand gently, feeling the last of Ryoma's warmth.

"Sakura?"

Sakuno blinked, and spun around to the voice. Her eyes widened. "Mr….Mr. Carabella?" The 40-year-old man was standing behind her, looking at her ecstatically. Sakuno suddenly felt a sense of dread forming inside her. Damn it…she shouldn't have answered that man…now he knows perfectly that she is the Sakura working in the Aging Bar…her identity is now revealed. She gulped as she realised what she had done to herself.

"Oh, so you _are_ Sakura! I remember your eyes, your face, and your…" Mr. Carabella stared down at her body. "…figure."

Suddenly, the clothes that Ryoma chose for her felt so exposed now, as her hands moved up consciously to cover her assets. "Erm…well…nice to meet you here…Mr. Carabella…" Sakuno forced out a smile.

Mr. Carabella edged closer. "Why are you so afraid, Sakura?" He laughed in a voice so sickening that it gave Sakuno shivers. He wrapped his hands around Sakuno casually. Sakuno cringed but, knowing the exact shape of Sakuno's body, he carved Sakuno's butts with his hands, and stopped Sakuno from moving any further by squeezing her butt whenever she tried to move. "Are you here to watch a movie too? Care to watch it with me?"

"A…Anou…Mr. Carabella…I'm out of work right now…so…" Sakuno said, struggling out of Mr. Carabella's hands, yet maintaining a nice smile.

"Oh, come on, I'll give you extra tips the next time I go to the bar, so come let me snuggle with you in the theatres, yeah?" Mr. Carabella said, whispering into Sakuno's ears.

"P…Please…S…stop…" Sakuno implored, struggling in vain, while that man continued to grope. "I…I can't…" She squirmed as Mr. Carabella pulled her up. "Please…" She shut her eyes. She cannot let Ryoma see this…this…scene…She must get away…Today is the special day where she had a date with Ryoma…

But no matter how much she struggled, she could not pull away. She's still a girl, and is still weaker, so much weaker than a man. _Someone…save me! _

_Ryoma…come back and save me…please…_

XxXxX

**End! Reviews!**

**I'm sorry for my ultra slow updating. Please forgive me! Go ahead and scold me, I'M REALLY SORRY!**


	11. Chapter 11

"So, how would you like your popcorn?" The girl at the counter winked flirtatiously, playing around with her hair, standing straight as ever. Ryoma rolled his eyes. A minute ago the girl was slouching all over the place, giving people her pissed-off glare, but when it was his turn, her attitude changed immediately, her sweet smile coming in from nowhere. "Sweet, or salted?"

Hmm, Sakuno would like sweet popcorns, right? Sweet popcorns should be the most popular popcorns among every teenage girl, shouldn't it? Girls like sweet stuff don't they? "Sweet." Ryoma said.

"_Sweeet_..." The girl smiled coyly, tapping exaggeratedly at her cashier-computer thingy. "...popcorn coming up." She took her time in taking out a popcorn box, taking every chance to glance and smile stupidly at him. "So," She said while gently shoving the popcorns up the box. "You like to eat sweet stuff, huh? So do I." She winked once more at the last sentence. "Guess we have a lot in common."

"I don't think so." Ryoma commented curtly. "I prefer salted popcorns, I just bought sweet popcorns 'cause my girlfriend wants it." He was not sure about Sakuno really wanting the sweet popcorns, but it was a good strategy to bring up about her anyway, to stop this girl from dreaming. It worked somewhat, when the girl started frowning, and shoving the popcorns into the box more violently.

"Well, your _girlfriend_ is not being very thoughtful then." She said matter-of-factly. "If it was me, I'll go along with any flavour that you like."

Okay, this is really getting very irritating. He had been stuck in front of this lady for quite a while now. Ryoma heard his voice getting harsher as he spoke. "Could you just hurry up and give me my popcorns? Like now?"

The bad attitude of that girl was coming up again. "Hey, it's not easy working here you know, you can't just rush me because you have a date." She spat belligerently, and almost literally threw the popcorn box at Ryoma. "That's one hundred yen (A/N: I made it up)." She said, voice filled with hurt and animosity. She was slouching and glaring again. Ryoma sighed. Oh well, at least the girl was not as annoying now. He dug for his wallet, while the girl continued in her determined glare at him.

He carried the popcorn and the tickets, and walked to where Sakuno was supposed to be.

_Hmm, did she go to the toilet or something?_ He frowned when the spot Sakuno was standing was empty. Nah, Sakuno wouldn't leave him like this. The Sakuno he knew would wait even if her bladder was hurting until Ryoma came back. Ryoma checked his watch. _30 minutes have passed, guess the queue was really freaking long. Maybe Sakuno did go to the toilet..._ Ryoma sighed. He should have just queued with Sakuno, then that girl would not try that hard in annoying him, and he would have held onto Sakuno's hand just a while longer... Sakuno's hands were really small and smooth, and it felt so good to have it enclosed within his hand, caressing it... He'll just wait here until Sakuno comes back, then.

_Okay, it has been five minutes already..._ Ryoma frowned. He knew a girl usually takes longer in the lavatory, but... He looked around. Come to think of it, this spot that he left Sakuno was rather dark and isolated. Can it be...it can't be...that Sakuno got attacked?

Ryoma could feel his hands sweating, as the popcorns suddenly felt like dropping. Damn this...okay, keep calm, Echizen Ryoma, you don't even feel nervous in front of a pro tennis player, why are you feeling nervous now, damn it? He bit his lips to stop it from trembling slightly, and wandered around the cinema. Damn it, where could Sakuno be? There were so many frigging people in here, Sakuno would not stand out at all. Should he call out? No wait, that'd be too embarrassing.

_Right, I should call her…_ Ryoma thought as he took out his phone and dialed the said girl.

_You have reached xxxxxxx…_

Fuck. She's not picking up her phone. Sakuno is not picking up a phone call from Ryoma. This totally means something. The rate of Ryoma's heartbeat increased drastically. Goodness, something just might have happened to Sakuno, what should he do? Damn it, he really shouldn't have left her alone. What the hell was I thinking to leave a girl alone like that?

He rushed out of the cinema, feeling stupid with a packet of popcorn in his arms and wandering around aimlessly. "Excuse me, have you seen a girl, slightly shorter than me, with braids, with a blue t-shirt and black shorts?" He asked a random passer-by.

"No, sorry." Great, that was kind of expected, but still...that was the only thing he could do. He felt so lost. Never in his life had something like this happened to him, other than that time Karupin went off all by himself, and at that time he was equally lost at what to do either. He was so useless... It was Momoshiro-sempai that helped him in the end. But now he's alone, and he's wandering around uselessly, freaking out and having no idea what to do.

His hands trembled, and a few popcorns dropped to the ground. "Sakuno!" He shouted, ignoring the stares he garnered from it, ignoring his previous stand on not wanting to embarrass himself. He wished all those people staring at him would just disappear right now they were fucking blocking his view. "Sakuno, where are you?"

XxXxX

"Nya, that Ochibi rejected our offer yet again!" Eiji said, kicking the stones on the pavement. "We can't even meet up for an outing anymore, and after this week, our intensive schedule will begin, and we will never be able to go out again."

"Well," Oishi said, trying to cheer the red-headed guy up a bit. "At least we are all still here."

"It isn't the same without Ochibi!" Eiji pouted, while Oishi tried to calm him down.

"I really wonder what he is doing." Fuji said.

"I want to know too." Inui added, taking out his notebook. "All the weird rumours have been messing with Echizen's data, I can't even make out a perfect percentage anymore."

"Come on, let's hurry up before we miss that movie." Kawamura said.

"Why do we have to watch that stupid movie viper suggested?" Momoshiro said unhappily.

"Pshh, you have a problem with that?" Kaidoh answered rudely, and a fight started once again.

"Nyaa! It's weird to not have Ochibi with us in this outing nya! Where is he?"

"Hehe he might be in that bar doing stuff we don't want to know about..."

"Ahhh! Shut up Fuji! Don't say such things with a face like that!"

"Hehe, I'm just quite jealous that he went to the bar before I did..."

"..."

"Fuji-sempai, in case you don't know...I was the one who brought Echizen there..."

"Fufu, then I must say you have learnt well from your sempai..."

"Fuji what are you talking about?"

"Fufufu…"

"Nyaaa, I still want Ochibi!"

"Oh come on, are we watching the movie or not?"

"Yeah but I want to watch it with Ochibi!"

"Wait." Kawamura stopped the group. "Who's that?"

"Who?" The regulars of the Seigaku tennis club stopped their ruckus and looked at the direction where Kawamura was looking at. There was a girl and a man, dancing around the secluded field.

"Geez, what are they doing?"

"Yeah, doing private stuff like that in public, they can't do this, they just can't…"

"I think the girl is in trouble." Fuji said, his tone getting serious.

"Let's go." Tezuka said, and the gang went forward to the couple.

"Ehhh, Sakuno-chan!" Eiji exclaimed when they got close. The man was holding Sakuno rather forcefully, with Sakuno wincing uncomfortably under his grasp.

Sakuno's eyes lit up when she saw the seniors. "Sempai-tachi!" She exclaimed back.

The man let go of Sakuno. "Hmm, so you're busy, Sakura, then, I'll just leave you alone for now." He left abruptly, disappearing almost immediately.

"Sakuno-chan, are you alright?" Fuji asked, concerned.

Sakuno nodded her head, biting her lips to hold back her tears. "Y…yeah…thank you…for helping…"

"Was he harassing you, Sakuno-chan?"

"Damn that pervert, should I run to him and report him to the police?"

"How dare he harass a girls' tennis club member! It means messing with us too!"

"Are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

Sakuno shook her head, unable to speak.

"You sure?"

Sakuno nodded. The rest looked at one another, unsure what to do. Everything was happening so suddenly, and this was also the first time they encountered such problems. Even Tezuka seemed dumbfounded. Oishi scratched his head, and asked tentatively. "Hey, erm, we are going to the movies now, do you want to come along with us?"

"…Movies…?" Sakuno jerked up, suddenly alert. "Ryoma…I need to find Ryoma!"

"Ryoma?"

"Yeah!" Sakuno exclaimed, digging out her phone. "Ryoma must be waiting for me…" She mumbled as she typed in a number in her phone, tears slowly tracing her soft cheeks.

The seniors looked at one another. _Ryoma? Why is Ryoma suddenly in the situation?_ They watched as Sakuno held the phone in her hand, with the other hand wiping her cheeks anxiously.

"Ryoma!...I…I don't know…_sob sob_…I think…_sob_…I'm somewhere outside the cinema…_sob_ I don't…_sob_…know…The…sempai-tachi…" Sakuno slobbered incoherently in between sobs.

Fuji sighed, and took the phone from Sakuno. "Echizen?"

"_Fuji__…sempai?_"

"Sakuno was harassed by some other guy."

"_She…she was? Is…is she alright now?_"

"Yeah, we saved her. Are you two together?"

"_Yeah…we were meant to watch a movie together._"

"Hmmm…" Fuji smirked. "We'll bring her to the cinema." He ended the phone conversation, and continued his smirk as everyone stared at him curiously. "Seems like Ryoma rejected us because of a date." He said.

XxXxX

Ryoma could feel his tears coming out, waiting at the side of his eyes, waiting to burst out crying. He could not remember when he last cried, he had never cried as long as he remembered. He felt so useless now, standing in the middle of nowhere, holding back his tears, not knowing what to do.

Where is Sakuno? If Sakuno was attacked or robbed or…even worse…_raped_, it would be all his fucking fault! Why did he leave Sakuno all alone there? If they had stayed together all the time nothing would have happened to Sakuno. Now what should I do? I can't find her, I don't know how to find her, what if she's somewhere in pain and shouting for me, and I'm stuck here not knowing where she is? What should I do, what should I do, what should I do?

Ryoma could feel tears trickling down his cheeks. He wiped it off aggressively, and tried calling Sakuno again.

It failed again, of course.

"Why are you standing here? Are you dumped by your girlfriend or something?" The annoying girl that sold him popcorn stood in front of him, smirking.

Ryoma glared at her. He wanted to curse her and tell her to get the hell away, but he didn't. Sakuno was more important than anything. "Have you seen a girl, slightly shorter than me, with braids, with a blue t-shirt and black shorts?"

The girl snorted. "Why would I know where your girlfriend is?"

Ryoma slumped to the wall near him. Yeah, why would she know? Why would anybody know? He should be the one that know where Sakuno is better than anybody else, so why was he asking people?

Then who should he ask? Who the hell would help him?

His phone rang. Ryoma grabbed it almost immediately, and nearly fainted on the spot when he saw _Sakuno 3 _flashing on the screen.

"Sakuno? Sakuno, is it you? Where are you? Okay, okay, calm down, where are you? What happened to you? What? Slow down, I can't hear you, I…what? What about the sempai-tachi? Sakuno?" Ryoma asked frantically, feeling relieved and worry gushing through him at the same time.

"Fuji-sempai? She…she was? Is she alright now? We were meant to watch a movie together… Really? Thanks, Fuji-sempai." Ryoma ended the phone conversation, looking dazed. He couldn't believe it. How could his seniors appear so miraculously? Were they god or something? The last time he lost Karupin, it was also his seniors that helped him in the end. Why was he so useless that he needed his seniors for help every time? He can't even protect Sakuno himself, he needed the seniors to help him, why was he so useless?

"Ryoma!" Ryoma jerked towards the sound, the sweet ringing sound that he had wanted to hear the past twenty minutes or so.

Sakuno was running to him. She was saved…she was alright… He hugged her tightly when they collide. She was real…she was finally here, by Ryoma's side…

"Oh god, are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?" He asked, burying his head into Sakuno's hair, as he let his tears flow down in relieve. "I was so worried about you…This is all my fault, I shouldn't have left you alone…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Sakuno…"

Sakuno hugged him back, hiding in his arms. "It's…it's not your…fault…I'm just…glad to be here with you…again…" She was crying really badly, and Ryoma's clothes were dirtied real badly, but he did not mind. Sakuno's back, that's all that mattered.

"Ahem."

Ryoma lifted his head. His seniors were standing in a row in front of them, watching them rather awkwardly. He blushed slightly. "Erm…thanks for helping Sakuno…"

"It's alright." Oishi said, smiling. "I didn't know you were dating with her."

Ryoma looked down. "It's a failed date…we missed the movie…"

"R…really?" Sakuno said, looking up. "I…I'm sorry…"

"It's alright." He said, brushing Sakuno's hair. "As long as you're safe…" He said, kissing her hair gently.

"Ahem."

Ryoma lifted his head again. "Sorry." He apologised. "Sempai-tachi, are you guys also watching a movie?"

"Yeah, we are. Since you missed your movie, want to watch with us?"

"Nyaa, Ochibi is watching with us yay!"

"We'll let you two sit together, don't worry."

"It's going to be a wonderful date, don't worry, Echizen!"

"Next time don't let your guard down."

"Yeah, it's not good losing Sakuno-chan, it's really not good."

Ryoma smiled. "Thanks, sempai-tachi." He leaned down to give Sakuno a deep, sweet kiss.

XxXxX

**Sorry, it's a bit rushed :P I know I suck I update so slowly and in the end when I updated it's so hopelessly rushed like this one. Please forgive me. Merry belated Christmas and Happy belated New Year though. ^^**


	12. Chapter 12

"Five minute break, everybody!" Tezuka shouted, and everybody slumped to the ground, moaning and groaning over their aching body.

Ryoma walked out of the tennis courts too, rather weakly, wiping his sweat away.

"Ochibi, where are you going?" Eiji asked, but he got cut off halfway by Momoshiro.

"Look at his face; obviously he's going to see his _girlfriend_." He said, and the rest of the tennis club started giggling stupidly.

Ryoma rolled his eyes. "Shut up…" He said. His seniors were so childish, making such a big fuss over them meeting each other just for a few seconds. Though the situation was definitely better than the previous days, where they just gave him the weird stares because of the rumours. After that date with Sakuno, they seemed to either not believe in the rumours anymore, or they did not care about it anymore. It's great that everything is back to normal; his seniors acting childish and back to hugging him, and he could talk to Sakuno closely without arousing suspicion.

So that date was not actually very bad. But the next time they go on dates, Ryoma is going to hold on Sakuno's hands forever and never let it go; he was not going to let Sakuno get harassed by her crazy customers again. Suffering while working in the bar is bad enough, but being harassed out of work too? Ryoma is never going to let that happen again. The previous time he was too careless, and he punished himself greatly because of that, and had sworn to protect Sakuno forever. What happened that day was not going to repeat itself.

"Ryoma, your ponta." Sakuno's eyes lit up immediately when she saw Ryoma coming.

"Thanks." Ryoma muttered, as he grabbed the ponta from her.

"Grandma is getting better already." Sakuno said eagerly, happiness showing all over her face. "I earned enough money for that weird osmo-thingo treatment, and now grandma's all better already! She could stand up and walk like nothing's happened to her."

"Hn." Ryoma said, smiling inward to himself that he had made Sakuno this happy. "Glad that she's alright. Though you should really check on what treatments you're giving her, don't just follow what the doctor says."

Sakuno pouted. "Mou…I can't understand medical sciences at all…the names are all so hard to remember. But I'm sure the osmo-thingo is really good."

"If you say so." Ryoma shrugged, pulling Sakuno closer to give her a kiss. Somewhere behind the bush someone wolf-whistled. _Che, nosy seniors…_

Sakuno blushed, as she grabbed Ryoma's shirt shyly. "But I'm so happy, after your finals, there will be this last surgery, the last treatment of everything, and Grandma would be healed, and everything would be decided…" Her grip on Ryoma's shirt tightened. "But I'm kind of scared…the doctor says it's not a 100% chance of success…"

Ryoma caressed Sakuno's hair tenderly. "She'll be okay." He smoothed out her hair and kissed her on that spot in assurance. "I know it."

Sakuno nodded, but the worry and gloomy expression still stayed. Ryoma just stared at her, frowning, no idea what to say to calm her down. There is no surgery that is a confirmed 100% success, if it is higher than 80% it's already considered very high success rate. But telling Sakuno this would not get rid of the concerned and tired expression she's having. He just needs to wait one more week.

Just one more week, just one more, and Ryuuzaki-sensei would be healed completely, then everything would be back to normal. Sakuno could finally be cheerful again, and could finally, _finally_, get rid of that stupid job. Just one more week, after the finals. After the finals, after everything…

"I'm going to win…no, we are going to win the finals, and then fetch Ryuuzaki-sensei from the hospital." Ryoma said.

"Yeah, Seigaku is so going to take that trophy!" "Seigaku fight!" "Don't worry, Sakuno-chan, we will fight the opponent just like how Ryuuzaki-sensei is fighting now!" "And we will win!" "Yeah!" "We're going to make Ryuuzaki-sensei suuuuper proud of us!" "Yeah!"

Sakuno smiled shyly when all the seniors jump out from the bush, cheering and exclaiming. "Thank you, everyone…" She said, touched. Ryoma gently swiped her tears away from the corner of her eyes.

"We are all going to be fine."

Sakuno nodded happily, finally assured.

XxXxX

"What kind of job do you do that earn you so much money?" Carrie said casually, while counting the money.

"Hn." Ryoma said lazily, too tired to try and answer the question.

Carrie glanced at Ryoma. "Heard you have finals this week or something."

Silence. It means consent.

"It's amazing how you keep up with practice and your job and coming to this bar. But Sakura's grandmother is going to be okay soon, so you can finally end this tiring job." Carrie smiled at Ryoma after she counted finish the money. "Isn't that nice?"

Yeah, Sakuno's grandmother is going to be okay soon…Ryuuzaki-sensei would be okay. She would definitely be okay. Ryoma's stomach churned uncomfortably, when he thought that the success rate is not 100%. What if… Damn it, touchwood, Ryoma, don't think of such negative things! Ryuuzaki-sensei would definitely be okay, and everything would be back to normal. Everything!

Carrie raised her eyebrow, looking at Ryoma's confused expression. "What's with that expression? Hey if Sakuno quit this job, you must still come and visit me, k, I'll miss you greatly." She smiled sincerely.

Ryoma blinked, not sure whether to answer to that or not.

"Come on, at least say a 'maybe' or something."

Ryoma shrugged, and still refused to say anything. As if he's going to come back to this place, the place that destroyed his reputation, the place that made him got kicked out of his house! But he still mumbled a 'Hn' for politeness.

"Be sure to win that match. If something good happens, everything that follows usually turns out to be good too."

"I won't lose that match." He said, determined. He had practiced so hard for it, nobody could defeat him now.

"That's the attitude!"

XxXxX

"Game and match, Seigaku's Echizen! Seigaku wins!"

"Yeah!" The group of students started cheering loudly. "We did it!"

The loud uproar made Ryoma's ears ringed uncomfortably. Ryoma wiped away his sweat, annoyed. Argh…after so many years of playing, he still couldn't get used to the volume… What's the use of cheering? They won, just feel happy about it, it's so uncivilised to express your happiness by shouting and screaming like some barbarian. They're the reason why there is so much noise pollution nowadays. Screaming so much, won't their throat hurt…?

"Ryoma! You did it! We did it!" Sakuno screamed happily, jumping on Ryoma, catching him on surprise. "Grandma would be so so so so so happy!" She laughed, hugging Ryoma tightly, eyes filled with tears of joy.

Ryoma blinked. His ears hurt, but he didn't mind one bit.

Maybe it's not such a bad thing cheering out loud like this.

XxXxX

"I am very proud of you all." Ryuuzaki-sensei said, holding up the trophy. The team clapped enthusiastically.

Ryuuzaki-sensei had been discharged, finally. The surgery went well, so Ryuuzaki-sensei rushed here as soon as possible. Sakuno was beaming brightly next to her, smiling as though it was the best day of her life. Well, it just might be the best day of her life, Ryoma thought as he smiled. The finals are over, and Ryuuzaki-sensei is completely healed so he didn't need to go work anymore, Ryoma is completely free now. Completely free, for Sakuno.

"It's all thanks to you guys, especially my granddaughter here." She continued, grabbing Sakuno and kissed her on her head. "I wouldn't have made it here without you."

"Mou, obaa-chan…" Sakuno pouted, blushing slightly. Ryoma felt a tickling sensation coming up from his lungs. Sakuno was so cute…He can't wait to ask her out after this practice… He had been noticing her all his life, but he never made the move. Now thinking about it, it had been because of Ryuuzaki-sensei's conditions that made him go close to Sakuno. In a way, he had to thank Ryuuzaki-sensei for this. Now that he was closer to Sakuno than he had ever dreamt of, he had to take this opportunity to ask her out. Gosh…thinking about this just made me want this practice to end real quick!

"And there's many more people I want to thank. Tezuka, for leading this team, Oishi, for supporting this team, my regulars, and everyone!" Everybody clapped.

But this was the first practice after a very long time that Ryuuzaki-sensei attended, and he already wants to end it. It's not good to lose your concentration like that! Ryoma chided himself. Sakuno's thing can be pushed till later, not yet…not yet…

Ryoma felt something struck him. If Ryuuzaki-sensei if alright now, that means Ryoma could not live with Sakuno anymore! Well, it's not bad going back to his house, but… Then it means that he really needs to ask Sakuno out! Argh, great. Now he couldn't get Sakuno out of his head…

"And I want to thank Ryoma especially."

Wait…what?

Ryoma snapped out of his thoughts, and looked at Ryuuzaki-sensei, who was smiling at him. Did he hear correctly, Ryuuzaki-sensei wanted to thank him…especially? Everyone else in the team looked back and started staring at Ryoma curiously, too.

"I want to thank you for constantly making money for Sakuno's pay rise, so that I could get out of hospital quickly." Ryuuzaki-sensei said.

Ryoma blinked. "Wha- How…how did you…"

"So, today, just for Ryoma, I'm giving him a break." She said, pushing her granddaughter forward. "Take Sakuno out for a date, I know that's what you want."

Ryoma blushed slightly. Damn it, since when did Ryuuzaki-sensei know about him working to pay Sakuno? Did mom tell her this? And since when did she know about him wanting a date…? Did he say his thoughts out loud again?

"R…Ryoma…" Sakuno stammered, blushing a deep crimson red in front of him.

The team started wolf-whistling. "Whoots! Go Ryoma!" "Kiss her!" "Make out!" "Oi, they're only fifteen." "Sorry." "Eh, sensei I want a break too!" "Yeah, I'm tired too!" "No way, the break is only for Ryoma!" "Eh!" "Run 50 laps now!" "EH?"

Sakuno and Ryoma stood there while watching the rest of the people running, running away from them.

"R…Ryoma…is it true…?" Sakuno asked softly when everyone is gone.

"Hn?"

"My…payrise…you worked for it?" Sakuno said, staring at Ryoma.

Ryoma hesitated before nodding his head. "Yeah. I kinda gave a 'tip' to Carrie…"

There was an awkward silence before Sakuno whispered. "Thank you." She leaned forward and hugged Ryoma.

"You're welcome." Ryoma said, and bent down to kiss her. "So, could we…go out again…like…tomorrow?"

Sakuno giggled. "I'll go out with you for the entire of my life." She said shyly.

Ryoma blinked. Then he smiled, feeling happiness rise up. He really wanted to shout and cheer out loud now. "Hn." He said simply, before pushing Sakuno to the wall and kissed her again, this time more ferociously.

XxXxX

**End of Chapter/story! I don't know how to continue already, I am already at my wits' end… Oh well. If you have nay suggestion to improve this, since I think I did it quite badly, do say it! **


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